Jessie Buckley on why her upcoming Frankenstein-inspired film 'The Bride!' is 'epic'
If there's a creature that just as iconic as Mary Shelley's monster Frankenstein, it's his very own bride, who is now set to be the centerpiece of the upcoming Gothic romance film The Bride!
Written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, the film stars Jessie Buckley as Ida, a murdered woman who is brought back to life to serve as the companion of Frankenstein's monster, portrayed by Christian Bale. Together, the two spark romance, police interest, and radical social change.
The film draws inspiration from the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, which was based on Shelley's 1818 novel about the titular monster.
In an interview shared with PhilSTAR L!fe, Buckley had the chance to delve deeper into the film's intricacies and share some exciting things about what it has in store for fans.
A 'truly original' work
When Buckley first sat down and read the script, she highlighted that she immediately became "obsessed" with the story.
"It totally rattled me in a way that was provocative and alive, and a truly original wild voice that I think I had been looking to feel and read. I had never read anything like that before. I needed to sit down and give it space, leave the possibility of it take shape over time as the potential was epic," she said.
"I remember feeling equally terrified and naked and thrilled and provoked and awoken by that possibility," she added.
According to her, the story aims to tackle themes of loneliness and how there's a "monster in us all."
"I guess this script is about loneliness in some way, and about the parts of ourselves and the parts of humanity and the world that we try to lock away, because we’re too scared of the things that it might bring out in us," Buckley said.
"And I guess this story takes us on a journey of the monster in us all, and how we need our monsters. Need to shake hands with the monstrous and learn to love that part. It’s a love story. And it’s a Bonnie and Clyde story," she added.
Channeling her character
Buckley describes her character Ida as "tough, sharp, and a survivor."
"The character is basically a working girl who has had to numb herself in some way, because there’s a ceiling to where she’s allowed to exist. Ida is a tenacious woman, sharp, witty, intelligent, a real firecracker," she explained.
"But when we meet her at the beginning, she’s on the edge, something inside her is cracking. She’s trying desperately to keep her head above water because it hurts too much to keep being disappointed by the world she is living in where just a slice of her is permitted," she continued.
When it comes to her alter-ego, "The Bride," Buckley underscored how the character is "formidable."
"She is like a laser beam discovering herself in her new form in the world that she’s been reborn into, and the relationship that she’s being reborn into. She doesn’t quite know where she is at the beginning," she said.
"She’s got a tenacity and a mind, but she’s also very vulnerable, because she’s been given information about who she is before she’s realized it for herself," she added.
An epic love story
All in all, Buckley remarked that what Gyllenhaal has created is a "true romance."
"She is acknowledging the monstrous, the misfits, the bits that lurk in the shadows and giving them a vast canvas to live and love from. This film is disobedient, ungovernable and a new cinematic language," she said.
"Every inch of it is epic. The creation is epic. The script is epic. The filming is epic. The character's epic. Frankenstein is a mythological, iconic character, as is The Bride. And both of these pedestals that these people occupy in the world already—they’re huge. But what Maggie has done is inject a profound beating heart inside of them," she continued.
Buckley and Bale are joined by Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Penélope Cruz.
The Bride! opens in cinemas in the Philippines on March 4.
