To call Frankenstein a labor of love is to put it mildly. A longtime dream project for Guillermo del Toro, the director and writer resurrects Mary Shelley’s classic tale of misguided genius on an epic scale, filling the screen with sweeping Victorian vistas and moments of startling emotional intensity. In the film, which stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the Creature, del Toro infuses Shelley’s Gothic story with a sense of imagination, darkness, and aching humanity he’s become known for in films from Pan’s Labyrinth to his adaptation of Pinocchio.

But the Academy Award–winning filmmaker didn’t bring it to life alone. Recently, Isaac and Elordi joined co-star Mia Goth, costume designer Kate Hawley, and composer Alexandre Desplat at The Lineup: Live at the Egyptian in Los Angeles to talk about the enormous undertaking of reinterpreting one of the most enduring stories ever written. As interviewer and journalist Anthony Breznican told them, “Something Guillermo said to me in our interviews [about the cast and crew] … He was talking about how difficult it is making a movie of this scale. He said, ‘You climb Everest with people you can huddle with at night and say, ‘It’s worth it.’ ”

An edited version of the conversation follows.

Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Kate Hawley, and Alexandre Desplat.

Anthony Breznican: I think we have to start by talking about Guillermo. On a movie this scale, there’s a lot of pressure, yet it seems like there was such joy in the making of it. Can you share some stories of working with Guillermo?

Oscar Isaac: The set that he makes is so inclusive and collaborative and joyful, and that was very unexpected, that he would be this free. And I think Guillermo wants to be very free. And also so emotional and passionate. I remember the very first day of shooting, I was out on a big frozen lake of ice being dragged by the dogs, and he’s just screaming, “Grim determination!” This was the first piece of direction. And it was always like that. It was just always … full. He approached every day full of passion, and I couldn’t wait to get to set to see what kind of fun we’dget into. 

Kate Hawley: In my very first fittings, which are usually much more sedate with [just] the tailor and measuring tape, Guillermo came in, [cinematographer] Dan Laustsen came in, [one of] the still photographer came in, and it became this party. It was madness, but it was a great way to start. It was fantastic. That’s Guillermo all the time.

One of the things that I think Guillermo put into this movie from his own heart is the father and child relationship between Victor and the Creature, the idea of that relationship breaking down. Oscar, what can you share with us about your approach to playing Victor as one of those fathers?

Isaac: When I met Guillermo, that’s what we talked about — before he even brought up Frankenstein, we were talking about fathers. You hear these stories about a child who has been abused, these horror stories that come out, and you think, “How could anyone ever look at something so innocent and do such wickedness?” I’ve had friends who watched the movie and say, “I feel so guilty watching [Victor’s] son and just thinking about the times that I’ve lost my patience with my kid.”

Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Mia Goth. 

Unique Nicole

Jacob, can you talk to us about the early scenes as the Creature. What was inside your head as you were playing this unusual creature?

Jacob Elordi: I suppose the thing is, you don’t want to play anything. That was what me and Guillermo talked about. He said, “He needs to be nothing, before he’s even a baby.” There is this moment of nothingness. What does air feel like? What does breath feel like the first time it goes into your lungs? What does your lung expanding feel like? The major thing that I wanted to try and achieve was in the early stages, to really think nothing, which is a tough thing, to try to quiet your mind. You have no pre-judgment of anything. Everything is the first time. The Creature is not burdened by consciousness at that point. He hasn’t learned cruelty, he hasn’t learned kindness, he’s just an innate nothing. Nothingness.

Mia, you’re playing two characters in the film, Elizabeth, the fiancée, and Victor’s mother, Claire. There’s a reason he cast you in both roles — what was your conversation with Guillermo like about that? Why did he want the same actor to play both parts? Tell me about your approach to both. 

Mia Goth: When I met Guillermo, I read a rough draft of the script and he asked, “What do you think?” And I told him, “I think it’s so moving, Guillermo.” And he said, “Well, do you want to be Elizabeth?” And then I said, “Yes.” And then he said, “Well, do you want to be Claire?” I said, “Yes.” In my head I just thought, “I don’t know how I’m going to do that, but we'll figure it out!” I was in my head a lot for this movie and I was just very scared. And I did a lot of work to eventually realize that I had to let all of that go and kind of just get really quiet, kind of that space when you open your eyes after meditation.

Alexandre Desplat.

Unique Nicole

The movie has an operatic scale. It’s a fantasy, and it has this immense pageantry. Alexandre, as you were composing the music for this, did you feel like you were writing an opera? Did it give you a canvas to really let loose?

Alexandre Desplat: Oh, it was huge, the film. Like in an opera, there are so many emotions you go through, and that the actors and the characters go through. I had to follow the hills and valleys of these many emotions. Yes, it’s like an opera. It was a daunting task. It’s a long film, there was a lot of music to write. It was a big, big challenge for me, maybe one of the biggest challenges I’ve had to face.

Was there a particular scene that was especially challenging and compelling to you?

Desplat: Maybe the body-building moment, when Dr. Frankenstein put together the body parts. That was a challenge because of what’s onscreen, which is something very gory and scary and violent. The actor feels so much passion, an exhilarating trance as he’s cutting these body parts and putting them together. That’s the kind of challenges that you face with these big scenes.

Kate Hawley.

Unique Nicole

Kate, you were not just creating the costumes that the actors are wearing, but making the textiles yourself, dyeing them, creating all the psychedelic, natural, insect-inspired designs. Can you tell me about bringing the natural world into this clothing and these costumes, and what that says in regard to the story?

Hawley: It’s all there in the beautiful text and script that Guillermo wrote — all that imagery of nature and the elements of religion and mythology. We were in this operatic language. And in the early discussions about Mia’s character, Elizabeth, he described her as a beetle — we discussed all these images of that. And when I saw how Dan was working with Guillermo in the context of the camera working in these wide shots — it’s almost under a kaleidoscope. Nature’s so present.

We looked at anatomy, but we also looked at that in relation to the imagery of the beetles and things, so anatomy found its way into what we call the X-ray dress. And that was all made in-house with prints. We wove the silk from the malachite. And we used old techniques, too, like a sort of Victorian marbling on velvets. I had an amazing team behind me. We had people looming the fabric, and we had a huge in-house team doing the textiles and dyeing all the elements. And we did the same with Victor’s wardrobe in a lot of it.

Jacob, didn’t you say that the butterflies were part of the inspiration for the look of the monster and his design? 

Elordi: I remember Mike Hill, the [Creature] designer, saying something about that at one point. We were talking about how the Creature is not meant to be brutally ugly, but beautiful, and the colors are meant to be beautiful and translucent and almost moving like a butterfly’s wings when it opens up.