Is Jacob Elordi’s New Movie a Metaphor For AI? Director Issues Bold Statement

At long last, Guillermo del Toro can proudly declare, “It’s alive!”

Frankenstein just premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and the Oscar-winning filmmaker, 60, took time on Saturday, Aug. 30 to weigh in on what his new iteration of Mary Shelley‘s classic story represents.

Or rather, what it doesn’t. As Variety reports, during a press conference for the highly anticipated film adaptation, del Toro insisted that his Frankenstein isn’t a warning about the growing presence of artificial intelligence in modern society.

“It’s not intended as a metaphor for that,” the Mexican auteur said. “We live in a time of terror and intimidation, certainly. And 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.”

Del Toro then turned heads by adding, “I’m not afraid of artificial intelligence. I’m afraid of natural stupidity.”

As film buffs can attest, Shelley’s classic tale has already been adapted to the big screen in decades past. In in the new take that will ultimately head to Netflix, as Variety noted, Jacob Elordi plays the creature entwined in a deadly feud with his brilliant creator (played by Oscar Isaac).

Del Toro imagines the story as a layered family drama, however. Putting his own cinematic spin of Frankenstein was a lifelong dream, as he explained in Saturday’s conference.

“I’ve been following the creature since I was kid,” The Shape of Water director said. “I waited for the movie to be done in the right conditions, both creatively in terms of achieving the scope to make it different, and to make it at a scale that you could reconstruct the whole world.”

Elordi, 28, was asked during the press conference who in society represents a monster to him, Variety reports. And the Australian actor quickly replied, “Men in suits.”

This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 30, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.