I joked weeks ago about Hollywood looking to Dr. Frankenstein’s monstrous creation now that our fascination with vampires appeared to be waning. But with yet another Frankenstein project being tossed onto the production heap, maybe that joke was more accurate than funny.
The latest, I, Frankenstein, casts Aaron Eckhart as a unique version of the Frankenstein monster who, according to Variety, is living in our modern time thanks to “a genetic quirk in his creation.” Stuart Beattie will direct this film from an adaptation of Kevin Grevioux’s graphic novel. Lakeshore Entertainment, Hopscotch Features and Lionsgate will combine to release I, Frankenstein. Production is due to start in Australia in January. The film is eying a February 22, 2013 release date.
''Mary Shelley's story is about the creation of the first human being. This is the story about that being becoming human,'' Beattie says.
Is this the era of Frankenstein? How many Frank features do you think audiences will want to see? And if you were casting a modern-day Frankenstein feature, would you think to cast Eckhart? Sure, he was fine as Two-Face in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, but I’m not convinced he’s right for the lumbering, bolts-in-the-neck beast Shelley wrote about so many years ago.
If this version doesn’t work, no fear. There are others in the pipeline. Real Steel director Shawn Levy has a Frankenstein picture on his radar. And that one will be penned by John Landis’ son, Max, so there’s hope. But with Twilight fading, and vampires and werewolves drifting into the background, this might be Frank’s time to shine.
