Frankenstein has been told by many different filmmakers who have their own spin of the original story, however I most recently just watched Guillermo Del Toro’s take on the story. Of course, Frankenstein has been highly praised this awards season, holding 9 Academy Award nominations, however I was finally able to catch it on the big screen and have been thinking about one thing since.
Jacob Elordi is one of hollywoods’ hottest actors right now. From his breakout role in ‘The Kissing Booth’ trilogy as Noah Flynn, to his rise to stardom starring as the quarterback Nate Jacobs in ‘Euphoria’ he really has been earning his flowers. One of my personal favourites was drama miniseries ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’, in which Jacob received a Golden Globe nomination for. He most recently delivered a harrowing performance in Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights”, in which he starred as Heathcliff. Believe it or not, Jacob actually stepped into his role as The Creature last minute as a replacement for Andrew Garfield and it seems as if this was fate for the actor as he has gone on to receive well-deserved critical acclaim for this role, earning himself some of his first big nominees including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also won the Critic’s Choice Award in the same category for this role.
Jacobs transformation into the creature is sensational. We usually see Frankensteins monster become the villain of the story but what we see here is almost the opposite. Watching The Creature so curiously adapt to the real world left me with goosebumps. Jacob really used just his eyes to capture the innocence and fear of The Creature, and I found myself completely captivated and empathetic with this character. There Is a huge sense of humanity portrayed and I found myself yearning for someone to just be his friend, you could really feel that pain when he was almost begging Victor for a companion. I can’t imagine anyone else being able to pull this off, Jacob’s physicality alone was enough to embody that childlike wonder despite his height, which allowed him to fully embody this role.
Despite not saying much throughout the film, every time he did it did not fail to leave goosebumps on my skin. The way he almost used different variants of the deep, creature-like tone of voice to capture different feelings and emotions was breathtaking. If you get the chance to watch Frankenstein on the big screen, I highly recommend doing so before it becomes truly exclusive to Netflix.
