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NEW YORK<\/strong> \u2013 On the first day of shooting \u201cFrankenstein,\u201d Guillermo del Toro<\/a> held up a drawing of the creature he had made when was a teenager.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018This is like Jesus to me,\u2019\u201d recalls Oscar Isaac.<\/p>\n For the Mexican-born filmmaker, Mary Shelley\u2019s 1881 gothic novel and the 1931 film with Boris Karloff are his personal urtexts: the origin of a lifelong affection for the monsters del Toro has ever since, in reams of sketches and in a filmography doted by them, breathed into life. For a misunderstood kid growing up in a devout Catholic family, Frankenstein\u2019s creature, unloved by his maker but graced by Karloff with empathy and fragility, cracked something open.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt I was being born into a world that was unforgiving, where you either have to be a little white lamb or you were doomed,\u201d del Toro says. \u201cThe moment Karloff crosses the threshold in the movie, backwards and then turns, I was like St. Paul on the road to Damascus. I said: That\u2019s me. It was just an immediate and absolute soul transference. And I think that\u2019s never gone.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was forgiveness for being imperfect,\u201d adds del Toro.<\/p>\n \u201cFrankenstein,\u201d<\/a> which Netflix will release in theaters Oct. 17 and on its streaming service Nov. 7, may be the culmination of del Toro\u2019s artistic life. It\u2019s his chance to, finally, unleash a movie \u2014 a grand saga of creator and creation, father and son, God and sinner \u2014 that he\u2019s been dreaming of decades.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the movie that I\u2019ve been in training for 30 years to do,\u201d del Toro said in a recent interview from Toronto, where he was mixing the film.<\/p>\n A book that \u2018changes with you\u2019<\/p>\n Del Toro first saw the 1931 film when he was 7. He read Shelley\u2019s book at 11. Ever since, monsters have been less a narrative device to him than an abiding personal belief system. As long as 20 years ago, he was talking about his hopes of making a \u201cMiltonian\u201d adaptation of Shelley’s novel. Time, though, he thinks has helped. As a child, he identified with the creature. After becoming a parent, he understood Dr. Frankenstein in a new way.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of those books that changes with you,\u201d he says. \u201cSo the movie changed. You feel like you\u2019ve been dreaming about it for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n In the film, an epic adorned with massive sets and lavish costumes, Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein, with Jacob Elordi as the monster. Isaac initially met with del Toro with no project in mind. Their talk turned toward their fathers.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the end of that conversation, he said, \u2018I want you to be my Victor,\u2019\u201d Isaac says. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know he was doing Frankenstein. Then he gave me Mary Shelley\u2019s \u2018Frankenstein\u2019 and the Tao Te Ching and said, \u2018Read these two things.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Isaac, 46, had long known del Toro, but it was their first film together. For the actor, the collaborative experience reminded him of his breakthrough role with the Coen brothers<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feel like doing \u2018Llewyn Davis\u2019 again. And I haven\u2019t had that since,\u201d Isaac says. \u201cIt\u2019s the kind of feeling of a family all building this thing together in an incredibly communal way.\u201d<\/p>\n An awards player for Netflix <\/p>\n Netflix, along with producers J. Miles Davis and Scott Stuber, are betting \u201cFrankenstein\u201d will be one of the fall\u2019s top films. It\u2019s premiering at the Venice Film Festival<\/a> before stopping at the Toronto International Film Festival<\/a>. Del Toro’s last film, \u201cGuillermo del Toro\u2019s Pinocchio,\u201d won the streamer its first best animated film Oscar. In 2018, del Toro\u2019s \u201cThe Shape of Water\u201d<\/a> won best picture. \u201cFrankenstein\u201d is all but sure to be in the Academy Awards mix this fall.<\/p>\n But there have been more than a hundred Frankenstein films over the years. Yet it\u2019s also been a long time (Tim Burton’s \u201cFrankenweenie\u201d in 2012?) since one really grabbed audiences. For del Toro, what makes his \u201cFrankenstein\u201d unique might be the depth of feeling he has for it.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe you can cover \u2018With a Little Help From My Friends\u2019 and be Joe Cocker or not. But the only thing you have is your voice,\u201d says del Toro. \u201cIt\u2019s very Catholic because it\u2019s coming from me. I\u2019m interested in answering why did God have to send Jesus to be crucified.\u201d<\/p>\n Inspiration from a halftime show<\/p>\n Del Toro’s \u201cFrankenstein\u201d was also made with particular fidelity to Shelley, and seeks to avoid some of the more simplistic characterizations that have been done over the years. The conception of Victor Frankenstein was less mad scientist than an artist and showman. Isaac even took inspiration from an R&B icon.<\/p>\n \u201cFor one scene, when Victor goes into the tower for first time, imagining his lab, I even watched a rehearsal of Prince coming to the Super Bowl and the way he looked around the stage, that kind of ownership,\u201d says Isaac.<\/p>\n Del Toro, 60, sees himself in both Frankenstein and his monster, and wanted a \u201cFrankenstein\u201d that reflect the perspectives of both.<\/p>\n