Bale and Gyllenhaal Make a Monster

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Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:

​ Christian Bale's new monster, Denis Villeneuve goes nuclear, Legally Blonde graduates to Amazon, A24's new planet, and a projectionist.

Let’s go!

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BALE AND GYLLENHAAL MAKE A MONSTER

The Bride of Frankenstein. Universal Pictures.

It’s Alive!

Maggie Gyllenhaal is directing an upcoming Frankenstein film, The Bride, which stars Christian Bale.

The classic Mary Shelley novel, written in 1818, has spurred over 100 film adaptations. The most iconic was Frankenstein (1931) starring Boris Karloff (watch the classic over-the-top ​It’s Alive!​ clip).

Gyllenhaal’s film is a loose adaptation of the sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Her cast is impressive:

• Frankenstein

  • Christian Bale

• The Bride

  • Jessie Buckley (Wicked Little Letters, Men)

• Detective

  • Peter Sarsgaard

• Other Cast:

  • Penélope Cruz

  • Annette Bening

Here’s the official synopsis:

A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement.

Although Gyllenhaal has been quiet about the film, her husband, Peter Sarsgaard, shared the following:

“It’s this big, romantic, deeply romantic, wild, punk monster movie! I think it’s going to be energizing! It’s rambunctious! People are going to be very surprised that this is Maggie’s second movie. It is nothing, at all, like The Lost Daughter [her 3x Oscar-nominated directorial debut].”

There’s a beautiful irony in two semi-dead monsters with their patchwork of flesh, sparking a romance, thereby proving "they're alive." If Gyllenhaal is able to unlock this, perhaps locating resonances of Bale’s American Psycho monster, it’ll be one to watch.

The Bride releases on October 3, 2025.

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