The Surprising Reason Jacob Elordi Was Cast in Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’

Ahead of the premiere of Guillermo del Toro‘s Frankenstein at the Venice International Film Festival later this month, the auteur filmmaker revealed the one reason Jacob Elordi got the role as The Monster in the highly anticipated film: his eyes.

The Mexican director opened up about the moviemaking process in a new interview with Variety, sharing what led him to choose certain cast members, as well as how much work—and how many years—went into completing the film.

During the enlightening conversation, journalist Brent Lang noted that Andrew Garfield was originally cast as The Monster but had to drop out of the film, leaving del Toro the task of finding another actor to portray the key character. Lang asked del Toro what made him choose Elordi, and he had quite a simple answer, declaring, “Jacob’s eyes are so full of humanity. I cast him because of his eyes.”

But in particular, it was Elordi’s role in Saltburn that brought him to del Toro’s attention, with the director saying, “I saw Saltburn, and I loved his innocence and openness. He plays the victim of a Tom Ripley-type of character, and I thought he played it with a lot of range.”

Del Toro Describes Elordi’s Character as a “Jigsaw Puzzle”

Del Toro’s version of the iconic monster character has a unique look, and the 60-year-old delved into how he came up with his unique vision, saying, “Ever since I started drawing the creature in the late ’70s and early ’80s, I knew I didn’t want symmetric scars and I didn’t want sutures or clamps. What I thought was very interesting was to make him like a jigsaw puzzle.”

He added that he “wanted him to look beautiful, like a newborn thing,” with “aesthetic” cuts bringing the different body parts together to make a whole man. Del Toro explained that Victor Frankenstein, played by Oscar Isaac, is a surgeon, and so “he needs to find a way to bring the corpses together in a harmonious way.”

Frankenstein Has Been 30 Years in the Making

The director of the upcoming film, which will have a limited theatrical release in October before premiering on Netflix on Nov. 7, admitted that he has been trying to make this film for decades.

Del Toro said, “It took 30 years. It’s a movie I wanted to make before I even had a camera. There’s the DNA of Frankenstein on Chronos, on Blade Two, on Hellboy…It’s been my Mount Everest to climb.”

He also shared that the film was in development at Universal for a time before the studio decided to pass on the project. Luckily, fans can finally see del Toro’s Frankenstein come to life this fall.

Next:Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie’s Wuthering Heights Remake Is Stirring Up Debate

The Surprising Reason Jacob Elordi Was Cast in Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ first appeared on Parade on Aug 21, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 21, 2025, where it first appeared.

‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’

‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’