The Wild Bride Of Frankenstein Film You'll Never Get To See
In 2017, Entertainment Weekly reported that Universal was planning a remake of the 1935 horror film "Bride of Frankenstein." It was the second film in a franchise known as the Dark Universe, comprised of films featuring some of the studio's classic monsters, including Dracula, Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, the Wolf Man, and She-Wolf.
"The Mummy," a reimagining of the 1932 film, was the first of the Dark Universe's offerings; it starred Tom Cruise as Nick Morton, Sofia Boutella in the titular role, and Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll and his insidious alter-ego, Mr. Edward Hyde. Universal obviously had high hopes that this star-studded affair would launch a lucrative number of follow-up films. According to Entertainment Weekly, Johnny Depp was already poised to play the Invisible Man, and Javier Bardem had been tapped to play Frankenstein's Monster. "Bride of Frankenstein" already had a release date of February 14, 2019, Bill Condon ("Beauty and the Beast") was set to direct, and the only key component missing was Bardem's leading lady.
However, in October 2017, Deadline reported that Universal had temporarily pulled the plug on pre-production of "Bride of Frankenstein," which was underway in London. Bardem was attached to the project, as was Angelina Jolie, who was circling the titular role. According to Deadline, the script, penned by David Koepp ("Spider-Man," "Jurassic Park"), needed work, and both Universal and Condon were hesitant to move forward with the project, as were Bardem and Jolie. So, what is the current status of "Bride of Frankenstein," and what was the original vision for the unrealized film?
Koepp said Bride of Frankenstein remaike would have been 'lavish, beautiful, gothic horror'
In an interview with Collider, David Koepp discussed his plan for Universal's discarded "Bride of Frankenstein. "It was going to be a very big lavish, beautiful, gothic horror production. And one idea I liked was the first thirty or forty pages took place in the 1870s as the 'Frankenstein' movies do, and then she became sort of inert for 150 years and was rediscovered and reawakened in the present day. And I thought that was cool," Koepp said.
The successful screenwriter wrote two versions of the screenplay, and his vision of something on a grander scale fell apart after "The Mummy" failed to impress at the box office. Koepp admitted that he also took a stab at a smaller version that he thought was "interesting," but that one "didn't quite work out." He admitted that the original film is a "treasure," but "it doesn't belong to me." He humbly added, "I got two really good cracks at it, so [it's] definitely fair to let someone else have a try."
In October 2020, Variety reported that Scarlett Johansson would produce and star in "Bride," a sci-fi imagining of the Mary Shelley character for Apple and A24 with Sebastián Lelio directing.