Trivia / Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

• Acting for Two: Robert De Niro also portrays Professor Waldman's killer, whose body was used for the creature.
• All-Star Cast: Branagh plays the good doctor. Tom Hulce is his best friend. Then-girlfriend Helena Bonham Carter is his adoptive sister/fiancee (yes, you read that right). Ian Holm is his father. Aidan Quinn is the ship's captain. John Cleese is his mentor. And most shocking of all, Robert De Niro is The Creature.
• Creator Backlash: 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.
• Deleted Role: Fay Ripley filmed a small role, she was bitten by the Creature, but her scenes never made the final cut.
• Deleted Scene: 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.
• Follow the Leader: After the success of Bram Stoker's Dracula, this was clearly intended as a Spiritual Successor. Francis Ford Coppola was originally going to direct too.
• Playing Against Type:
  • John Cleese plays Victor's mentor, a reformed mad scientist, and is practically unrecognizable due to his straight dramatic performance.
  • On a more subtle note, Helena Bonham Carter plays a subversion of her usual (at the time) Merchant & Ivory heroines.
• Production Posse: In addition to Patrick Doyle as the composer, Branagh regulars Ian Holm, Helena Bonham Carter, and Richard Briers plays the parts of Baron Frankenstein, Elizabeth, and the Old Blind Man respectively.
• Romance on the Set: This is where Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter fell in love (despite Branagh already being married at the time).
• Star-Derailing Role: 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 Thor that he began being offered blockbuster projects again.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Francis Ford Coppola originally intended to direct this film as a Spiritual Successor to Bram Stoker's Dracula. He stepped back and allowed Kenneth Branagh 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.
  • Fred Saberhagen, who wrote the novelization for Bram Stoker's Dracula, 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.
  • Roman Polański was approached to direct.
  • At one point, Tim Burton was being courted to direct, with Columbia eyeing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Creature.
  • Branagh was keen to cast Gérard Depardieu as the Creature but Columbia felt that he would not have strong enough box office appeal. Andy García, Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich was also considered.
  • Willem Dafoe was offered the role of Victor Frankenstein.
  • Kate Winslet 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. Emma Thompson was also the first choice for Elizabeth, but she had commitments to Carrington at the time.
  • Christopher Lambert was cast as Henry Clerval but replaced by Tom Hulce before filming.

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