Andrew Garfield Is "Very, Very Glad" Jacob Elordi Stepped in for Him in Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein'

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The past few years have been extremely kind to Jacob Elordi. After his time spent in The Kissing Booth movies and Euphoria, his star has shot into the stratosphere between standout high-profile roles in Saltburn and Priscilla, with a bright future ahead, including Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights adaptation. Yet, his greatest stroke of luck came earlier this year when the opportunity opened up to become Frankenstein's monster in Guillermo del Toro's much-anticipated adaptation of Mary Shelley's landmark novel. The chance only came about due to a scheduling conflict involving the film's original star, Andrew Garfield, yet said star couldn't be happier with his replacement. Speaking to Deadline, Garfield shared how hearing about Elordi's experience on set made him all the more glad that the young star stepped in for him.

In the time since stepping away from Frankenstein, Garfield has still kept busy and found a major success with A24's We Live in Time with Florence Pugh. Stepping away from a del Toro project, however, isn't something he takes lightly though. This film, in particular, is a passion project for the director, who has long considered Shelley's book a favorite of his and has explored similar themes through his own work, like The Shape of Water and Pinocchio. Moreover, it's utterly packed with star power, including Oscar Isaac as the titular doctor and Mia Goth as his love interest with Christoph Waltz, Felix Kammerer, Charles Dance, Ralph Ineson, Burn Gorman, David Bradley, and Lars Mikkelsen among the supporting cast.

The Hacksaw Ridge star admitted missing out on that opportunity due to his schedule was disappointing, but hearing from Elordi about his experience and how much he got out of it left him feeling that the right actor won out in the end. He told Deadline:

"I was just with Jacob Elordi, who ended up playing the character of The Creature, in Marrakech so I was hearing about how amazing and satisfying that was for him. So I'm very, very glad that it was him doing it.

I'm, of course, disappointed that I didn't get to do it because I love Guillermo and I love Oscar [Isaac] and everyone that he assembled. But meeting Jacob felt really serendipitous so that I could really see and hear that, 'No, maybe he needed that experience more than me.' That was cool, to feel that he had a really spectacular time on that job."

Del Toro's 'Frankenstein' Had a "Familial" Atmosphere While Filming

Filming wrapped on Frankensteinback in September and Elordi wasn't the only one singing praises for the experience. Goth recounted the warmth she felt from del Toro and the whole team during an episode of Collider Ladies Night with Perri Nemiroff, citing a "familial quality" while she was on set:

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a director be quite so at home and confident and calm on a set, and there’s something really very reassuring about that as the actor on the other side of the camera. Someone who is just so totally at ease on his set , and these are huge sets, nothing that I’ve ever experienced before, and it’s just like he’s working from his living room. He’s worked with the same people for 20, 30 years, and even on such a scale like this, there’s still a very familial quality to it all. As you might be going through your own thing on set, you can kind of just look over to him and it centers you. It’s just been one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had.”

The film is expected to stick close to the source material, albeit with some of the director's unique touch infused into it. An early set image has already teased that Captain Walton, the overarching narrator in Shelley's original book, will be integral to the story as he meets the scientist and his monster during a voyage to the Arctic. Like the novel, del Toro appears to be paying special mind to how weather is depicted in the story given his scouting for filming locations around Canada that match the aesthetic Shelly described. He's also brought back a few familiar faces to bring the story to life, including composer Alexandre Desplat and producer Gary Ungar.

Frankenstein is under a deal for Netflix distribution, but the streamer has opted to give the film a proper theatrical release sometime in 2025. Stay tuned here at Collider for more as the film nears.