If vampires can make the leap from old-fashioned horror tale characters to modern, sexy characters inspiring a near-psychotic fan following, why can’t Frankenstein? From Dracula to Edward Cullen, the vampire has certainly come a long way, but can the lumbering creation of a mad scientist make the same leap? According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC is hoping so.
House executive producers Russel Friend and Garrett Lerner will be writing the script NBC has ordered for the Universal Media Studios project. Although a medical drama doesn’t exactly qualify the two for the supernatural genre, both have experience on projects such as Roswell and John Doe to bolster their cred in a more esoteric arena.
Can Frankenstein transition effectively to a modern setting? The original Mary Shelley novel was written in 1818, when people were still looking askance at science and the idea of bringing a creature such as Frankenstein’s monster to life was downright bone chilling. In the era of stem cell research, the idea is no longer quite so farfetched. While Frankenstein has seen plenty of adaptations in the movies, most recently in 1994 with Kenneth Branagh and Robert DeNiro starring, it has never had quite the same appeal as the tales of Count Dracula and the innumerable vampire fiction novels, movies and television series that have taken the legend to new, sexier heights.
While my first instinct is to laugh at the idea that Dr. Frankenstein and his monster can be made modern and sexy, I have only to compare an image of Max Schreck in Nosferatu to, well, any of the True Blood vampires to see how far a Gothic legend can come. If this one goes to pilot, I’ll be curious to see how they pull it off.
