Filming a re-imagining of Frankenstein was, jokes director Paul McGuigan, rather like giving life to a movie monster. McGuigan, admirably lauded for his thrilling works in exceptional movies with A-list actors such as Bruce Willis, Josh Hartnett and Ben Kingsley in “Lucky Number Slevin,” Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning in “Push,” Tom Hardy, Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe in “The Reckoning,” Paul Bettany and David Thewlis in “Gangster No. 1” and “Wicker Park” with Josh Hartnett and Rose Byrne and who has also directed several episodes of the acclaimed BBC television series Sherlock, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch now helms an electrifying monster of a movie in “Victor Frankenstein” starring James McAvoy (“X-Men” films) and Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter” films) as loyal allies at a time when scientific breakthroughs from the period’s greatest minds are at its peak.
Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic novel about the eccentric scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and his quest to create life, was first published in 1818 and has captivated generations of readers and later, cinema audiences, ever since. At the core of this new Frankenstein story – just like with (Sherlock) Holmes and Watson – is the friendship between Frankenstein and Igor.