Oscar Isaac on Watching Guillermo del Toro Craft 'Frankenstein' as They Were Filming | TIFF 2025 - video Dailymotion

The Hollywood Reporter

Director Guillermo del Toro and stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz stop by THR's TIFF suite at the 1 Hotel in Toronto to talk about their new film 'Frankenstein.' The cast reveal what they would create if they were mad scientists in their own lives, while del Toro talks about being "open to listening" while creating this film. Plus, Isaac discusses how inclusive the set was while filming.

Transcript

00:00I remember early on just seeing Guillermo sitting behind the monitors and drawing the

00:05storyboards as we were going.

00:07The fact that he was quilting the film as we were filming it, so cutting the film, you

00:12know, sometimes we would do a take and it would be cut right into the flow of the edit

00:16and to see that in the moment, in real time, was a very unique experience.

00:21If you guys were a mad scientist, if you were in your own lab, what would you create?

00:31Oh my lord, understanding.

00:33I sound like a calendar wisdom.

00:36That's a good one.

00:38A time machine.

00:39Yeah, I'll buy one.

00:41I want one.

00:42I would create a little pill and you take it and it gives you 12 hours of sleep every night.

00:49It's called Zalek.

00:51It's called Zalek.

00:52And her kid's going to ban it.

00:54They've already made that.

00:56They've already made that one.

00:58But it would be a better one.

01:01I would mate my dog over and over so she could always just be there.

01:06Oh, I'd create a completely new approach to interviewing.

01:10Hit me, what would you do?

01:12Let's try it right now.

01:13No, no, I'll create that later.

01:14Okay, okay.

01:15What surprised everybody most about the making of this movie?

01:20Everything that was new for me was to be open to listening.

01:24You know?

01:25I think the younger you are, the more you want to say how things should be.

01:29And the older you get, you go, maybe this is great to try.

01:33You know?

01:34So every one of them was very beautiful and new for me.

01:38I guess what surprised me the most was just how much we laughed.

01:41How much joy we had.

01:42How he was going to direct me with dirty jokes, mostly.

01:47And how inclusive everything was, you know?

01:51There's no secret whisperings behind monitors, you know?

01:54Everything was an open book.

01:55So if something was wrong, everybody knew it.

01:57If something was great, everybody knew it.

01:59You know, I remember early on just seeing Guillermo sitting behind the monitors and drawing the storyboards as we were going.

02:07The fact that he was quilting the film as we were filming it.

02:10So cutting the film.

02:12You know, sometimes we would do a take and it would be cut right into the flow of the edit.

02:16And to see that in the moment in real time was a very unique experience.

02:21I wasn't surprised, but I was really moved the first time I drove to the studio.

02:27And the ship was in the parking lot.

02:33This giant full ship on hydraulics was in the parking lot.

02:38And then there was these three sound stages.

02:41And each door that you opened was like this dream gate into this like magical world.

02:48Like with castles and snow and moss in the walls and water running through the sets.

02:55Everything was practical and right in front of me.

02:57Which is not a surprise because you're working with Guillermo.

03:00But when you actually, you know, you get in your SUV out of the hotel and then you arrive and there's an ice scape in a car park in Toronto.

03:09It takes your breath away.

03:11It's called December in Toronto.

03:13That's true.

03:14But yeah, yeah, exactly.

03:16I want to ask about like the movement that you created for the creature.

03:20I'm a decently gangly fellow.

03:22So I think my body informed a lot of it.

03:25And Guillermo had a great idea of working with a Butoh coach in the time leading up.

03:30Which is this sort of Japanese dance of death.

03:34Which kind of means reanimating a corpse.

03:38But it's kind of all there in the script when you think about a character like this.

03:43Mia, were you always going to play the two parts or did that kind of come in that was from the beginning?

03:49Yeah.

03:50Originally I was going to play three parts.

03:52And Guillermo shared that with me on our very first meeting.

03:56But ultimately he had to, the film was just getting too long and he had to cut her out of it.

04:02But I'll never forget it, you know, I remember sitting there with Guillermo and him sharing the script with me.

04:07And being so blown away by the fact that I was sitting there with Guillermo reading his script.

04:11And then he revealed that he wanted me to play these two roles.

04:14And I was just very, you know, flattered and honored and very excited to be a part of it.

04:21Does anyone get squeamish?

04:23Does working behind the scenes take away that element because you see kind of how the sausage is being made?

04:28Or do you still have those moments?

04:29I like blood.

04:30Yeah.

04:31Very much.

04:32Those were some of the most fun times where I just, I couldn't believe where he was like,

04:36More blood!

04:37And people would run up with buckets of blood and just douse everything.

04:40And then you would grab blood and just throw it, pools of it everywhere.

04:45Because every time you see a Frankenstein creation scene, the creature is just made.

04:52You never see, I mean, you never see the quilting and what's left behind.

04:57If you're quilting 55 bodies, there are parts he's not using that need to be strewn around.

05:03And it's like we follow in detail little inserts and close ups and beauty shots.

05:09And then at the end, oh, I have all this left over.

05:13What was the blood made of?

05:14Oh, it's always carrot syrup.

05:16Always.

05:17Yeah.

05:18Okay.

05:19Goes very well with pancakes.

05:21What is a creature comfort that you guys need when you're traveling for work or on a production

05:27to like make you feel comfortable, settle in?

05:29What can you not leave home without?

05:31Ketamine.

05:32Films.

05:33Movies.

05:34To watch.

05:35Yeah, I have 7,000 movies that travel with me.

Oscar Isaac on Watching Guillermo del Toro Craft 'Frankenstein' as They Were Filming | TIFF 2025

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