Breaking News! Jessica Brown Findlay Takes the Female Lead in Frankenstein

written by Ana on 13 September 2013

Yey! Finally some big news for Jess, she has taken the female lead in 20th Century Fox’s upcoming Frankenstein. The Hollywood Reporter has the news, saying that she’ll play an injured trapeze artist who comes under the care of Dr. Frankenstein (James McAvoy) and Igor (Daniel Radcliffe).

The film, to be directed by Paul McGuigan and scripted by Max Landis (Chronicle) adapts Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel.

“I began to pick apart our knowledge of ‘Frankenstein’ and discovered that the public’s idea of this myth comes from a million different places,” Landis told ShockTillYouDrop.com last year. “…I became committed to recontextualizing it all so it all worked in one story. By the end of the day, it’s a period piece and yes, it’s from Igor’s perspective, but man it’s cool. It’s the best thing I’ve written.”

The part marks another big win after several actresses, including Felicity Jones, were considered. Upon departing the BBC drama, Findlay was the choice after months of tests for Akiva Goldsman’s Winter’s Tale. Prior to landing the part in Frankenstein, she was also in consideration for the female lead in the next installment of Pirates of the Caribbean.

This latest take on Mary Shelley’s chilling tale of man’s scientific hubris has McAvoy as the titular doctor and Radcliffe as Igor, through whose eyes the story will be told. Frankenstein, you’ll recall, is the man who thought it would be smart to build a creature out of dead people, which ultimately led to the screaming and the smashing and the mobs with the torches and property values going down all over the place.

Landis’ script gives it new layers. “It’s about two young, brilliant guys pushing each other. Eventually one loses his morality and the other has to bring him back,” Radcliffe told the Hollywood Reporter at the Toronto Film Festival.

Director Paul McGuigan wants the cameras cranking on this one later in the year in London and Scotland.

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