Christian Bale Is Frankenstein In First Look At Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride

Mary Shelley's genre novel landmark Frankenstein is one source material that, like Sherlock Holmes, Dracula or Garfield, filmmakers just can't somehow stay away from. Perhaps it's because the story of a man and his creation offers so many potential thematic choices. Or because actors just love playing the stitched-up result of the doctor's work. In this case, we have writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal offering up the first looks at Christian Bale as the creature and Jessie Buckley as his chosen Bride. Check out Bale above and the other images below…

From the looks of these, Gyllenhaal (marking her second directorial effort after the Oscar-nominated The Lost Daughter) has certainly put a new spin on the classic story (or more accurately The Bride Of Frankenstein).

Your official synopsis runs as follows: A lonely Frankenstein (sniffs, pushes glasses up nose: "I think you'll find Frankenstein is the doctor and not the creature…") travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aid of Dr. Euphonious in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride (Buckley) is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police, and a wild and radical social movement.

Hopes are high for this one, given the filmmaker, her lead cast and the sterling support of Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz, and Peter Sarsgaard. The Bride! (yes, the exclamation point is in the title) will be in cinemas on 3 October next year. Can we expect a Frank-off with Guillermo del Toro's version? Only time will tell.