* ActingForTwo: Creator/RobertDeNiro also portrays Professor Waldman's killer, whose body was used for the creature.
* AllStarCast: Branagh plays the good doctor. [[Film/{{Amadeus}} Tom Hulce]] is his best friend. Then-girlfriend Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter is his adoptive sister/fiancee (yes, you read that right). Creator/IanHolm is his father. Aidan Quinn is the ship's captain. Creator/JohnCleese is his mentor. And most shocking of all, '''Creator/RobertDeNiro''' is The Creature.
* CreatorBacklash: Frank Darabont has said in interviews that he was displeased with the finished film, feeling that Kenneth Branagh had mishandled the project. He later called the film "the best script I ever wrote and the worst movie I've ever seen." He elaborated:
-->There's a weird doppelganger effect when I watch the movie. It's kind of like the movie I wrote, but not at all like the movie I wrote. It has no patience for subtlety. It has no patience for quiet moments. It has no patience period. It's big and loud and blunt and rephrased by the director at every possible turn. Cumulatively, the effect was a totally different movie. I don't know why Branagh needed to make this big, loud film...the material was subtle. Shelley's book was way out there in a lot of ways, but it's also very subtle. I don't know why it had to be this operatic attempt at filmmaking. Shelley's book is not operatic, it whispers at you a lot. The movie was a bad one. That was my Waterloo. That's where I really got my ass kicked most as a screenwriter ... [Branagh] really took the brunt of the blame for that film, which was appropriate. That movie was his vision entirely. If you love that movie you can throw all your roses at Ken Branagh's feet. If you hated it, throw your spears there too, because that was his movie.
* DeletedRole: Fay Ripley filmed a small role, she was bitten by the Creature, but her scenes never made the final cut.
* DeletedScene: Other scenes were shot confirming that Henry is left alive at the end of the film, but they were cut. Henry's fate is left ambiguous, last seen as Victor flees his burning house.
* FollowTheLeader: After the success of ''Film/BramStokersDracula'', this was clearly intended as a SpiritualSuccessor. Creator/FrancisFordCoppola was originally going to direct too.
* PlayingAgainstType:
** Creator/JohnCleese plays Victor's mentor, a [[RetiredMonster reformed mad scientist]], and is practically unrecognizable due to his straight dramatic performance.
** On a more subtle note, Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter plays a subversion of her usual ([[TypeCasting at the time]]) Merchant & Ivory heroines.
* ProductionPosse: In addition to Patrick Doyle as the composer, Branagh regulars Creator/IanHolm, Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter, and Creator/RichardBriers plays the parts of Baron Frankenstein, Elizabeth, and the Old Blind Man respectively.
* RomanceOnTheSet: This is where Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter fell in love (despite Branagh already being married at the time).
* StarDerailingRole: This movie put the brakes on Branagh's career as a mainstream actor and director. He didn't mind too much though, as he preferred theatre and indie projects that brought him critical acclaim. It did, however, make it hard for him to put together funding for his ''Hamlet'' passion project. It wasn't until the 2010's and his helming of ''Film/{{Thor}}'' that he began being offered blockbuster projects again.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/FrancisFordCoppola originally intended to direct this film as a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Film/BramStokersDracula''. He stepped back and allowed Creator/KennethBranagh to direct instead. They disagreed on numerous things during production, Coppola feeling that the entire first hour of the film should be cut. He later denounced the whole thing.
** Creator/FredSaberhagen, who wrote the novelization for ''Film/BramStokersDracula'', allegedly tried to get the novelization job for this film as well just so it could say "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: from the author of ''Bram Stoker's Dracula''" on the cover.
** Creator/RomanPolanski was approached to direct.
** At one point, Creator/TimBurton was being courted to direct, with Columbia eyeing Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger as the Creature.
** Branagh was keen to cast Creator/GerardDepardieu as the Creature but Columbia felt that he would not have strong enough box office appeal. Creator/AndyGarcia, Creator/JeremyIrons and Creator/JohnMalkovich was also considered.
** Creator/WillemDafoe was offered the role of Victor Frankenstein.
** Creator/KateWinslet lobbied very hard for the role of Elizabeth. Although it went to Helena Bonham Carter, Kenneth Branagh was impressed by her and cast her as Ophelia in his version of ''Hamlet''. Creator/EmmaThompson was also the first choice for Elizabeth, but she had commitments to ''Carrington'' at the time.
** Creator/ChristopherLambert was cast as Henry Clerval but replaced by Tom Hulce before filming.
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