How Frankenstein’s creature designer found a new look for the iconic monster

For Mike Hill and Guillermo del Toro, it all started with… Frankenstein.

Years ago, Hill — a sculptor and special effects artist — was showing his work at a conference in Burbank. Del Toro saw some of Hill’s phenomenal creations on display and was so impressed that he decided to reach out, tracking down Hill’s contact information from an obscure model kit forum. “I don’t know how he found me through a 20-year-old website,” says Hill, who describes del Toro’s investigation as a “very Columbo-like” job. “But he wrote to me, told me who he was, and asked for a commission for something.”

That first commission turned out to be a sculpture of Boris Karloff after he applied his makeup to the famous 1931 version. FrankensteinAnd it will continue to be shown Famous director Bleak House. “Right away, Frankenstein became our first work together,” Hill says.

From here a fruitful relationship blossomed; Hill continued to design creatures for films such as Nightmare alley and Water shapeand Netflix Selections Cabinet of curiosities. But when news came out that del Toro was working on his long-awaited version FrankensteinHale’s phone remained strangely silent. “I was worried because I knew he was going to do it Frankenstein “I didn’t reach out. It was driving me crazy,” Hill told me. But del Toro didn’t forget his partner – in fact, it turned out that Hill was vital to the project.

“Guillermo invited me to breakfast and said, ‘Listen, we’re doing this Frankenstein. If you don’t do it, I won’t do it, so it depends on you now. Eat your eggs and tell me at the end if we’re going to make the movie.

Naturally, Hill said yes.

That version of Frankenstein king A short tour of the theatres and It will stream on Netflix on November 7. It was especially challenging for Hill given how ubiquitous Frankenstein’s creature is. Karloff’s interpretation of Frankenstein Created in 1931 by legendary international makeup artist Jack Pearce, it has become an indelible part of popular culture, and since then there have been hundreds of variations across stage and screen. “It was very difficult trying to come up with something that no one had seen before,” Hill says.

The design process was a collaborative process between director and artist. Del Toro did not give clear instructions, but instead explained what he said He didn’t do that He wants. For example, the creature shouldn’t be hideous, which means no heavy, ugly stitching. From there Hill came up with some options, and spent some time researching 18th century surgical techniques, before arriving at the final version. “I just wanted to make it reflect the period, as if it had been built in the 1800s,” Hill says. “I wanted it to look like a human had done this to it meticulously.”

This iteration of the creature is tall and thin, with scars covering its entire body to form an almost geometric pattern. This fits with the film’s story, which really delves into the pseudoscientific process that Victor Frankenstein goes through to build this creature and eventually bring him back to life. This contrast between beauty and horror is an essential part of the character, according to Hill. “There is a certain beauty that Victor was striving for,” he says. “He tried to make a beautiful stained glass window, but it ended up stained and broken.”

In those early stages, Hill didn’t have much going on. There was no script, and no one was represented as the creature. Later, he spent eight months designing prosthetics for an actor who eventually left the project due to conflict. At that point, del Toro sent Hill a list of potential actors he was considering taking on, and one in particular stood out: Jacob Elordi, who eventually took the role.

Hale cites his “behaviour, his ganglion, his limbs, and his doe-like eyes,” as reasons why Elordi is perfect as the creature. And it helps with that trance The star is 6-foot-5 and, according to Hill, has the kind of face that makeup artists dream of. “Jacob’s bone structure made things a lot easier,” he says. “He has this very strong jaw, and this very strong chin. As a prosthetics artist, the chin is a pain in the ass.” The final version of the design included 42 different prosthetics, and when Elordi had to wear the full body set, it required about 10 hours in the makeup chair.

One of the most important parts of the final design is how much it can evolve over the course of the film. At first, the creature is bald and almost naked, indicating its childlike innocence. But after being abandoned by his creator, he takes on a more difficult outlook, eventually growing out his hair and wearing a long cloak. Elordi’s behavior also changes. He often shivers early on, before turning into something more threatening and terrifying. From a styling standpoint, all that really changes is the hair and wardrobe; However, the transformation is exciting.

in the end, Frankenstein It proved to be a perfect collaboration for Hill and del Toro. The artist told me that he had been making monsters since he was a child, collecting clay from a nearby riverbank to sculpt them, and since those early days Mary Shelley’s story had been a guiding influence. He has continued to create multiple versions of the creature as a professional artist and is currently working on them A short film based on a decade-old sculpture. Just like del Toro, the idea of ​​intervention Frankenstein In its own way it was a long-term goal. So, although waiting for del Toro’s call might involve a little stress, it was worth it in the end.

“I always dreamed he would make it,” Hill says.