Frankenstein
Frankenstein

Helen McCrory interview

Published: Thursday, 11 October 2007, 5:05PM

You play the heroine of the story. Have you read the original novel?
I first read it on holiday about two or three years ago and what really struck me was how different it was to what I was expecting. We've all seen those Hammer horror images of the monster, and I was really surprised at how different the novel was from a lot of those famous movie portrayals of Frankenstein.

What impression did the book have on you?
Actually, what I came away with was a very strong sense of Mary Shelley’s concern with the difference between nature over nurture, our fears about science and our mistrust of physical appearance. I think the abiding memories people have of Frankenstein are those Hammer horror images of the monster’s birth by electricity, the bolts in the neck shocking it to life and everyone screaming "It’s alive!". I do get to say that, but really the novel is about so much more.

So is this version faithful to the original?
I think the adaptations which have gone before ours have been more true to the period and we’re updating it and setting it in the future. It’s not set in a specific time but you know that it’s not now. 

What kind of themes does it cover?
There are so many themes in the original; it’s a thriller, it’s partly a horror, it asks very serious questions about science and society. And Jed Mercurio (the director) sticks very closely to those, without making you feel like you’re being bashed over the head with too many things at once. Jed’s very smart like that. Jed also deals with the responsibility of creating life. Victoria has an extremely strong sense of responsibility in ensuring the happiness and well-being of the creation – very much like Victor was, and that is often not shown in the films. He is usually depicted as screaming "What have I done?" while running from the basement. But in the novel, he actually loves the creation and feels an enormous sense of responsibility for him.

In the original story, Dr Frankenstein was a man. Was it easy to re-tell the story from a woman’s point of view?
Her motives are very different from Victor’s. While she is no less curious than he was, no less ambitious, her creation is born out of an overriding concern for life and a desire to preserve and protect it, rather than as a result of a man with a God complex stitching body parts together in the cellar.

Did you have any reservations when you first received the script?
Well yes, if I’m honest, I was a bit concerned about it because it’s television, it’s horror, and there’s a monster. You immediately think, "Oh god, it’s going to be some guy with a bucket on his head with two holes in the middle and none of us are ever going to work again." But as soon as I heard that not only was Jed Mercurio the director, but that the guys who did Primeval and Walking with Dinosaurs were producing it, I was immediately drawn to the project.

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