The history of cinema has been filled with interpretations of Frankenstein’s monster and the Bride of Frankenstein—and today, two more are added to the list. Maggie Gyllenhaal took to social media Thursday to reveal the first look at the lead characters of her new film, The Bride!, coming to theaters next year, and they’re both hauntingly beautiful.
That they’re played by Christian Bale and Jesse Buckley doesn’t hurt. Bale is Frankenstein and Buckley is the title character in the film, which is set for release on October 3, 2025. Here they are.
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Certainly, the choice to present the Bride in color and Frank in black and white is interesting. As is the mystery to what the black splatter on the Bride’s face could be. But more so than that, the writing that we can see on Frank is fascinating. Who put it there? Are they his thoughts? Someone else’s?
What we can clearly see in the photo is the word “Verdorben” on his shirt, which loosely means “spoiled.” It looks like it says “Hope” tattooed on his chest but it’s the end of a longer phrase. These things do give slight Suicide Squad Joker vibes but, coming from Bale and Gyllenhaal, we are a bit less worried about that.
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As for what The Bride! is about, Warner Bros. offers the following description: “[The Bride!] sees a lonely Frankenstein travel to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride 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.”
Co-starring Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz, Julianne Hough, and Peter Sarsgaard, The Bride! is now filming.
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