Maggie Gyllenhaal is currently at work on her upcoming film, The Bride, a take on Mary Shelley’s classic novel adapted for the screen by Gyllenhaal herself. This is her follow-up to The Lost Daughter, which was well received and garnered three Oscar nominations, including one for Gyllenhaal adapting Elena Ferrante’s novel. So expectations for The Bride exist, based on Gyllenhaal’s previous success.
Earlier this month, Gyllenhaal posted first-look images on her Instagram of Jessie Buckley, reuniting with Gyllenhaal after The Lost Daughter, as Gaga-esque Bride and Christian Bale as a tattooed creature. Jared Leto’s Joker has ruined this look forever, I’m afraid.
The Bride is set in 1930s Chicago, but is filming in New York—Illinois governor JB Pritzker is hyping an expanded film incentive program which will hopefully bring more productions to the state, though for Gyllenhaal, it’s probably as simple as she has school-aged children, and both she and her husband, Peter Sarsgaard, are working on the film so filming in New York allows them to work without disrupting their kids’ lives ANYWAY—and here is Christian Bale on set, in costume, with Gyllenhaal. He only looks a little bit like an old-timey serial killer in costume.
I have a bone to pick with The Bride, though. The log line reads: In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein asks Dr. Euphronius to help create a companion. They give life to a murdered woman as the Bride, sparking romance, police interest, and radical social change.
Frankenstein is the doctor! Yes, I AM one of those people who insists on referring to this character as either “the creature” or “Frankenstein’s monster”. It’s only one of the most famous, well-known novels in history, it won’t kill us to refer to the main character correctly. Unless in this version, Dr. Frankenstein IS the monster? Is Maggie Gyllenhaal doing something here, or is this just one of the most common literary errors in the world? Even if it is, I liked The Lost Daughter enough to be curious about The Bride.
Although I don’t think I’ll ever love any piece of Frankenstein-inspired work as much as I love David Harbour’s bonkers passion project, Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein. Consider this your semi-annual reminder to watch it.
