The return of the Universal Monsters is a star-studded affair that will include Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe in The Mummy (in theaters June 9, 2017), and Johnny Depp in The Invisible Man, with the studio targeting Angelina Jolie for Bride of Frankenstein, Scarlett Johansson in The Creature From the Black Lagoon, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for The Wolfman.
While nothing is set in stone, it was rumored back in July of 2016 that Javier Bardem, is in talks to star as Franeknstein’s monster in Universal’s cinematic universe with rebooted versions of classic monster movies. It’s currently unknown which movie Bardem would first appear in, although the studio is also developing a Bride of Frankenstein pic, but their sources indicate that Bardem’s Frankenstein would likely appear in another monster movie before his own project, Variety had initially reported. Ironically, Bardem had been approached about playing the Dr. Jekyll role in The Mummy, but passed on the part, which opened the door for Crowe to step into the role.
With The Mummy just a few weeks out from unwrapping into theaters, Bardem confirmed that he’s still actively discussing playing Frankenstein’s monster in one of the future films:
“Yeah, well, there are talks,” he told the site. “And I would love to be part of it. Because it’s an iconic… speaking of an iconic character! I have the size of the head. [Laughs] That’s for sure. They’re not going to waste a lot of money in makeup, that’s for sure.”
It’s become impossible to keep up with these films and who’s who in them, which is sort of exciting. Universal is somehow convincing all of the A-list actors (Tom Cruise is to be the franchise’s Van Helsing-type character) and actresses to partake in what will essentially be the biggest horror franchise that’s ever been. Thanks to @TallyDude for the tip.
