In Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein the “mad scientist” Victor is played by an
impassioned Oscar Isaac as a man who refuses to recognize boundaries. Not only
the boundary between death and life, but he also pursues Elizabeth (Mia Goth), his
brother’s betrothed. He is, as Lady Caroline Lamb described George Gordon, Lord
Byron, “Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.” Victor Frankenstein desires to topple
“God” and fashion a new Adam regardless of questions of morality. For Victor
Frankenstein, libertine, the world is not enough.
Nadine Whitney spoke to Oscar Isaac about Frankenstein’s libertine desires both as
a scientist and a man.
Nadine Whitney: You played an absolute rock star version of Victor Frankenstein.
Also, not the most ethically sound version of the character in both his professional
and personal dealings. Did you think of people like Lord Byron when you were
creating your Frankenstein?
Oscar Isaac: Absolutely. Guillermo and I very much talked about this kind of Byronic
quality to him. This vitalist, essentialist, man—one of the iconoclasts of the time. The
Romantics were the punk rock generation of that time. Social defiance being a really
strong spirit: overly emotional and overly expressive and you know, just like a real
“fuck you” to the establishment of the time.
I think that’s something that we really leaned into. And I think for me as well,
ethically, you know, he’s a bit like the Marquis de Sade as well. He finds pleasure
outside of the constraints of morality. And it has a nihilistic kind of bent to it. It is a
godless world, and it is one where pain and pleasure are one and the same.
You know, the thing is, Victor is an island. I mean, they’re all little islands, right? And
he doesn’t see Elizabeth. He sees, very literally, his mother. Whether they looked
alike is probably not true. It’s Victor’s imagination, but, you know, that’s who he sees.
He just sees something that he wants, and something that he desires. He wants the
validation from Elizabeth more than anything. If she said, “I love you,” I don’t think
he’d know what to do with that. I think he’d probably run away.
It’s just desire. Desire. Desire. Desire. Just wanting more. He’s like the ghost from
Spirited Away, you know, the No-Face. It just wants to eat and eat and eat. It was
always very interesting to find that. And Guillermo was really open for us
experimenting. I mean, we did so many different versions. There’s that one scene,
the confrontation when I’m in the robe waiting for Elizabeth when she comes out.
And that scene used to be like, up the stairs. Mia and I tried doing it up the stairs,
and it turned into like this crazy Cassavetes type thing that Guillermo was like, “This
is not the right movie.” And then we figured it out. But, you know, he allowed us to be
quite experimental to find that tension.
