As if 20th Century Fox’s new Frankenstein project wasn’t genre-friendly enough, with a script by Chronicle’s Max Landis, Sherlock director Paul McGuigan calling the shots and James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe starring, the film is now reaching out to the Downton Abbey crowd, with news that Jessica Brown Findlay has snagged the female lead{
This latest take on Mary Shelley’s chilling tale of man’s scientific hubris has McAvoy as the titular doctor and Radcliffe as Igor, through whose eyes the story will be told. Frankenstein, you’ll recall, is the man who thought it would be smart to build a creature out of dead people, which ultimately led to the screaming and the smashing and the mobs with the torches and property values going down all over the place.
Landis’ script gives it new layers. "It's about two young, brilliant guys pushing each other. Eventually one loses his morality and the other has to bring him back," Radcliffe told the Hollywood Reporter at the Toronto Film Festival.
Findlay is set to play a trapeze artist saved by Igor during an accident, which leads to the pair becoming close. McGuigan wants the cameras cranking on this one later in the year in London and Scotland.
Frankenstein will represent just the latest big project for Findlay since leaving her TV stately home after her turn as Lady Sybil. She also has a role in Akiva Goldsman’s Winter’s Tale alongside Colin Farrell, Will Smith and Matt Bomer.