“Isaac laughs remembering "One time we were looking at the monitor and Guillermo said to me, ‘A European would never make this movie that we’re making. This is a Latino-telenovela version of the story. It is not a coincidence that my Victor Frankenstein isn’t being played by an English person, it’s being played by Oscar Isaac Hernández from Guatemala.” Speaking in Spanish with his director was comforting to Isaac. “It was truly the first time I felt like I was making something with a family member. Even though its Mary Shelley, and the story takes place in Geneva and Scotland, I felt so connected to my heritage. It bubbled up from the earth. It felt like an ancestral journey for me.” [Frankenstein: Written and Directed by Guillermo del Toro]
I wanted the movie to test the capabilities of every single craft in moviemaking. There are huge sets, huge props, complex wardrobe. I wanted it to feel like an old movie that was made in the heyday of Hollywood. Luscious, and beautiful, and operatic and all that. […] ‘cause I didn’t want the audiance to go, “Oh, it’s digital,” because once you introduce that, it’s like a license for people not to believe things. […] If you do it for real, people have a sense.
