As you may recall, David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Panic Room, and the upcoming You Should Have Left) had penned the script for a new take on Bride of Frankenstein that was going to be part of Universal’s “Dark Universe,” with Bill Condon attached to direct. That project fell by the wayside when the “Dark Universe” quickly died off, but it looks to have found new life.
Speaking with Collider this week, Koepp suggests that the death of the Marvel-style “Dark Universe” has not necessarily meant the death of his Bride of Frankenstein script.
“That was one thing I did during quarantine – I brought back Bride of Frankenstein into a place where I kind of always wanted it to be,” Koepp explained to Collider. “Universal was very gracious to let me try again. Because they had geared up and shut down famously in the Dark Universe fiasco. Well, not fiasco, but disappointment. So I have a version now and they have a version that we all really like. I think they’re talking to directors now.”
He continued, “It’s not the great big, $150 million extravaganza with giant movie stars. It’s not as scaled down as Invisible Man but much more reasonable, doable thing, with, I think, a really cool idea and it’s all present day.”
The previous iteration of Bride of Frankenstein, when the “Dark Universe” was still a thing, was indeed set to be star-studded, with Angelina Jolie in talks to play the title character. The success of Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man has marked a whole new chapter for Universal, however, one with a focus on lower budgets and creator-driven, standalone horror films.
If there’s any character who deserves that treatment, it’s no doubt the so-called Bride. After all, she’s a character who hasn’t really been explored on screen over the years. While James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein is one of the greatest horror films of all time, the Bride herself barely appears in it. And unlike her fellow Universal Monsters, she never returned for more.
