Guillermo del Toro Skewers Hollywood’s AI Obsession as Frankenstein Earns Rave Reviews

Guillermo del Toro is riding high on a new hit and somehow even louder on a very specific hill: no AI in his movies, not now, not ever. He is not soft-pedaling it either.

Del Toro vs AI: zero interest, zero patience

On October 23, 2025, in the middle of a victory lap for his new Frankenstein (sitting at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes), the 61-year-old filmmaker told NPR he would rather die than use generative AI in his work. His words, not mine:

'I’m 61, and I hope to be able to remain uninterested in using it at all until I croak... The other day, somebody wrote me an email, said, "What is your stance on AI?" And my answer was very short. I said, "I’d rather die."'

That was not a one-off. At a New York City screening on October 20, after a Q&A with Celine Song and Oscar Isaac, he literally grabbed the mic and yelled 'F*** AI.' His longtime producer J. Miles Dale backed him up by saying that pitching AI to del Toro would be 'like spitting on God.' Subtle bunch, these guys.

Del Toro has also been pretty clear about why he is digging in: he thinks the real problem is not artificial intelligence but, as he put it, 'natural stupidity.' He connects the hubris in Mary Shelley’s story to the current tech moment, calling out a Victor Frankenstein vibe among certain 'tech bros' racing ahead without thinking through the fallout. In his words, it is time to pause and decide where we are actually going.

The larger fight he just walked into

Del Toro is not alone. The industry’s been bracing around this for a while:

SAG-AFTRA, now led by newly elected Sean Astin, publicly torched the AI-generated actress known as Tilly Norwood in September 2025, saying digital performers cannot substitute for actual human experience and emotion. That comes on the heels of the 2023 Hollywood strikes, when more than 160,000 actors and writers walked off with AI rules as a core issue, and the union secured new protections.

Filmmaker Justine Bateman warned in late 2024 that AI would, in her words, burn down the business. She followed that up by launching the CREDO 23 Film Festival in 2025 to showcase only AI-free work. Nicolas Cage chimed in during a 2025 acceptance speech, arguing that robots cannot reflect the human condition and that handing the keys to AI would swap integrity for balance sheets.

Emily Blunt, Natasha Lyonne, and Sophie Turner also criticized the Tilly Norwood experiment, with Blunt calling it 'terrifying' and pressing agencies to knock it off. In March 2025, more than 400 filmmakers pushed back against copyright exemptions for training AI models, and Hollywood hired lobbying firms to petition the Trump administration to protect artists’ IP from companies wanting wide-open data access. Meanwhile, the UN’s trade and development arm projects generative AI could be a $4.8 trillion market by 2033, which explains why the tug-of-war is getting intense.

The movie he made instead of prompts and plug-ins

Frankenstein is very much built by hand: practical effects, real sets, actual actors, the whole tactile package. Critics noticed. The film is at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 78 on Metacritic based on 48 reviews. The praise keeps orbiting the same idea: you can feel the craft. The Hollywood Reporter called it epic-scale storytelling with uncommon beauty, feeling, and artistry. IndieWire singled out Jacob Elordi’s performance as the Creature as the most emotionally layered take since Boris Karloff, which is high praise and a pretty deep cut.

Oscar Isaac is having a month, too. In October 2025, he picked up the Icon Award at the Savannah Film Festival and the Actor – Film honor at the Celebration of Cinema and Television for playing Victor Frankenstein. The movie itself is set during the Crimean War (1853–1856) and digs into period detail, down to a creature design inspired by 19th-century phrenology manuals. You can see the research on screen; there is nothing off-the-shelf about it.

• Director: Guillermo del Toro
• Producers: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale, Scott Stuber
• Main cast: Oscar Isaac (Victor Frankenstein), Jacob Elordi (The Creature), Mia Goth (Elizabeth Lavenza), Christoph Waltz (Henrich Harlander); also Felix Kammerer, Lars Mikkelsen, David Bradley, Christian Convery, Charles Dance, Ralph Ineson
• Runtime: 149 minutes (2 hours 29 minutes)
• Premiere: Venice Film Festival, August 30, 2025; nominated for the Golden Lion, winner of the Fanheart3 Award
• TIFF: Runner-up for the People’s Choice Award
• Release: Limited theatrical on October 17, 2025; Netflix streaming starts November 7, 2025
• Reception: 86% on Rotten Tomatoes; 78 on Metacritic (48 critics)
• Accolades: Oscar Isaac won the Icon Award at Savannah Film Festival and Actor – Film at the Celebration of Cinema and Television (October 2025)
• Approach: 100% practical effects, real sets, human performances; creature design influenced by period phrenology
• Setting: Crimean War, 1853–1856

Where this lands

Del Toro is betting that audiences still want fingerprints on the film stock, not fingerprints on a keyboard. And for now, critics and early crowds seem to agree. Whether Hollywood at large swerves his way or keeps chasing the AI money is the billion-dollar (well, multi-trillion by 2033) question.

Are you in the 'use the tools' camp or with del Toro on the 'no thanks' side? And are you catching Frankenstein in theaters or waiting for Netflix on November 7?