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The day is finally here. After months of teasing, Netflix just released the first official look at Frankenstein’s monster from the upcoming Guillermo del Toro film… and he’s kind of beautiful?
Oh, he’s hideous, of course. After all, he was created by putting together the remains of several dead bodies. But, thanks in large part to being portrayed by Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein’s monster has a less gruesome and more measured look than many are probably expecting. Here’s the full image:
Though this is our first official image of the character, del Toro has previously explained some of the decisions that went into crafting the monster.
“Ever since I started drawing the creature in the late ’70s and early ’80s, I knew I didn’t want symmetric scars and I didn’t want sutures or clamps,” del Toro said a few weeks back. “What I thought was very interesting was to make him like a jigsaw puzzle. I wanted him to look beautiful, like a newborn thing, because a lot of times, Frankenstein steps into the frame and he looks like an accident victim. But Victor is as much an artist as he is a surgeon, so the cuts had to make aesthetic sense. I always thought about him as made of alabaster. I never understood something about the other versions: why does Victor use so many pieces from so many bodies? Why doesn’t he just resurrect a guy who had a heart attack? And the answer for me was, what if the bodies come from a battlefield? Then he needs to find a way to bring the corpses together in a harmonious way.”
So, do we think he’s succeeded? The look is certainly a very del Toro choice, one that will make the creature more sympathetic in the film. Whether or not that will work in context, we still have to wait a few weeks—but before that, we’re getting a new trailer tomorrow, October 1, to kick off spooky season in style.
Co-starring Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Christian Convery, with Charles Dance and Christoph Waltz, Frankenstein comes to select theaters on October 17 and Netflix on November 7.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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