Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein Was Changed Forever by a Family Tragedy

Guillermo del Toro is finally making his Frankenstein, and yes, Mary Shelley is the backbone. But the real twist is the unexpectedly personal engine behind it: his father’s kidnapping in the late 90s. That experience didn’t just haunt him; it rewired what this movie is about.

How a family trauma became the film’s heartbeat

Talking to Entertainment Weekly at the Toronto International Film Festival, del Toro said the movie’s central theme shifted after a conversation he had with his father years after the abduction. His dad was kidnapped in 1998 in Mexico, and when he came home, he never spoke about it. Before his father passed, del Toro pressed for the full story. That talk, he says, reframed the entire project around forgiveness — not the easy kind, but the kind that reshapes who you are.

"My father was kidnapped in 1998, and when he came back, he didn’t talk about it. Then before he passed, I said, 'We have to sit down and you gotta tell me what happened.'"

He describes the film’s core as "forgiving someone and forgiving yourself into being," adding: "What you realize is a grudge takes two prisoners and forgiveness liberates two people." He also noted he once thought he could make the movie earlier, but ultimately: "No, thank God it didn’t happen until now."

The film: classic monster, new muscle

Del Toro’s adaptation draws on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, but if you’re expecting a simple creature feature, he’s clearly aiming for something more interior. The focus is the messy, human act of forgiving as a way to move forward — which, for a story about a creator, a creation, and the fallout between them, feels like a smart pivot. Oscar Isaac leads the cast, which already tells you the tone is likely going to be intimate and intense rather than pulpy.

The wild, very Hollywood footnote

There’s an almost unbelievable coda to the kidnapping story. Reports at the time said the ransom was $1 million — money del Toro didn’t have. According to UPROXX, James Cameron stepped in and covered the amount, which helped bring del Toro’s father home safely. It’s a jaw-dropper, and it also explains why del Toro talks about forgiveness like someone who has spent years wrestling with the fallout of real-life horror.

• Del Toro’s father was abducted in 1998 in Mexico; he rarely spoke about it afterward.
• Before his father died, del Toro pushed for the full story — a conversation that reframed the film around forgiveness.
• He describes the theme as forgiving others and yourself into being, not just offering a clean pardon.
• He told Entertainment Weekly about this during TIFF, noting he is grateful the film didn’t happen until now.
• Oscar Isaac leads the new Frankenstein, which still nods to Shelley’s 1818 novel but leans harder into emotional fallout.
• UPROXX has reported that James Cameron paid the $1 million ransom to secure his father’s release — an almost too-crazy-to-be-true detail that, apparently, is true.

So yes, this is still a gothic horror movie. But it’s also del Toro working through something raw and personal — the kind of inside-baseball backstory that often makes his best work hit harder.