Guillermo del Toro Says ‘Frankenstein’ Isn’t a Metaphor for AI: ‘I’m Not Afraid of Artificial Intelligence, I’m Afraid of Natural Stupidity’
It’s alive! And it’s at Venice Film Festival! But it’s not a metaphor for artificial intelligence.
Guillermo del Toro‘s “Frankenstein,” starring Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac as the monster and his creator, film follows a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment, only for the experiment to lead to the destruction of them both. It’s a timely tale about hubris, the corruption of power and the dangers of technology, but it’s not a warning for the proliferation of AI.
“It’s not intended as a metaphor for that,” del Toro said at the film’s official press conference on Saturday afternoon. “We live in a time of terror and intimidation, certainly. And the seminal question in the novel is, what is it to be human? What makes us human? There’s no more urgent task than to remain, in a time where everything is pushing towards a bipolar, understanding of our humanity. The movie tries to show imperfect characters and the right we have to remain imperfect, and the right we have to understand each other under the most oppressive circumstances.”
Plus, he cracked, “I’m not afraid of artificial intelligence. I’m afraid of natural stupidity.”
The $120 million-budgeted monster movie, which premieres on Saturday night, is playing in competition and will compete for the prestigious Golden Lion, an award that del Toro won in 2017 for “The Shape of Water.”
Shelley’s classic novel been adapted for the screen many times, most notably in 1931’s “Frankenstein,” directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff. In del Toro’s version, Elordi plays the creature locked in a deadly feud with his maker (Isaac). But instead of a standard horror film, the Oscar-winning director imagines the story as a layered family drama. For del Toro, putting his own cinematic spin of “Frankenstein” is the culmination of a lifelong dream.
“I’ve been following the creature since I was kid. I waited for the movie do be done in the right conditions creatively,” he said. And now that he’s completed the film, he joked, “I’m in postpartum depression.
Since Netflix is releasing “Frankenstein,” the film will only have a limited release on the big screen before landing on the streaming service. But del Toro isn’t concerned about a shorter theatrical window.
“Look at my set, I always want more of everything,” he said. But when it comes to the rocky state of movie theaters, the director noted, “you never know what’s going to happen.” He then referred to his 2021 psychological thriller “Nightmare Alley,” which misfired at the box office.
“We were released next to ‘Spider Man [No Way Home] and Omicron, the variation of COVID. We lasted very little,” del Toro said. “So you never know what is affordable. What I do know is to reach over 300 million viewers [on Netflix], you take the opportunity and challenge to make a movie that evokes that cinema and then you provide theaters in the beginning. That makes, for me, a very creative experience.”
Given the themes of the film, Elordi was asked who in society represents a monster to him — and the actor was quick to reply: “Men in suits.”
Del Toro interjected, “Very well tailored [ones].’
