While it’s easy to think that cinematic universes are strictly superhero stuff, that won’t be the case for long. One of the more promising ones in the pipeline is the Universal Monsters Universe. While things got off to a bit of a wonky start with Dracula: Untold, an intense ret-con is underway. As they set up potential characters, there has been a growing emphasis on star-power. Next June, Tom Cruise will headline The Mummy, which also features Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll. Meanwhile, Johnny Depp has been cast as The Invisible Man with Dwayne Johnson rumored for The Wolf Man. However, today we turn our attention to Frankenstein, as it appears that Oscar-Winner Javier Bardem has landed the role.
Javier Bardem is a fantastic choice for the role. Much like Boris Karloff, Bardem has the ability to transform his face and body to fill out a role. Beyond that, the majority of his major Hollywood roles have been villains of some variety. However, they are often not the typical mustache twirling evildoers. The majority of them, especially Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men are very understated. He works the most potentially in silence with the simplest of expressions, which will be key for this character. However, it will be interesting to see if the filmmakers go for the mindless beast of their original film, or the more intelligent creature of Mary Shelley’s novel.
It is currently unclear which film would be Javier Bardem’s debut. In fact, beyond The Mummy, none of these monster movies have set release dates. However, it is heavily rumored that Universal has been courting Angelina Jolie to direct and star in The Bride of Frankenstein. If that project comes to pass, then Universal may have wisely decided to skip over the monster’s origin story. After all, they wouldn’t want to align themselves with last year’s Victor Frankenstein which failed miserably at the box office.
Thoughts? Questions? Think we’ve missed something? Let us know in the comments section below, and remember to stay tuned to The Nerd Stash for all your comic, movie and gaming news!
