The Bride!: Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jessie Buckley Embrace Something Bold

      “I think that within each of us lie truly monstrous aspects that can terrify us,” shares Maggie Gyllenhaal, the writer and director of The Bride!

      “I’m sure some readers might disagree, saying, ‘Not me.’ But I believe otherwise.”

      She pauses and chuckles: “I do.”

      The Bride!, which releases today, features Jessie Buckley, who has a face tattoo, and a nearly unrecognizable Christian Bale as two monsters reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde and Sid and Nancy, navigating a world that is both fearful and hateful toward them.

      This film marks the second significant adaptation inspired by Mary Shelley’s 1818 Frankenstein in recent months, preceded by Guillermo del Toro’s acclaimed Netflix version.

      Gyllenhaal’s film deviates dramatically from Shelley’s original narrative.

      In the film, Bale portrays Frank—Frankenstein’s monster—and Buckley takes on the role of The Bride.

      “He experiences profound loneliness,” Gyllenhaal observes. “In Shelley’s novel, all he seeks is companionship, a partner. He acknowledges his monstrous nature but states, ‘I cannot endure solitude.’ I really connect with him: his loneliness is such that he will not survive.

      “As a result, he aims to resurrect someone. Yet the central question emerges: What about her? What are the needs and desires of the woman he resurrects? Does she possess a mind and a heart?”

      Gyllenhaal was motivated to create The Bride! after a friend mentioned her husband’s Bride of Frankenstein tattoo. She envisioned the character from James Whale’s 1935 film sequel, where Elsa Lanchester portrays her with a beehive hairdo and silver strands. Gyllenhaal’s memories intertwined Lanchester’s image with that of Madeline Kahn, who humorously embodied the character in Mel Brooks’ 1974 Young Frankenstein.

      “She immediately captivated me. I had never seen The Bride of Frankenstein, but I was familiar with the mythology,” Gyllenhaal recalls.

      At the time, she was engaged in press interviews for her 2021 writing and directing debut, The Lost Daughter. Once she had the opportunity to watch the original film, she was astonished to find that, despite its title, the Bride is not the main focus.

      “I thought, ‘Wow — she doesn’t even have a line,’” Gyllenhaal remarks. “She appears for just three minutes without uttering a word.”

      This realization sparked her curiosity about what the Bride might express.

      The outcome is a punk-influenced story set in the 1930s, brimming with ideas and dynamism, even including a clever Young Frankenstein tribute. Gyllenhaal recruited several of her favored actors, such as Annette Bening, Penelope Cruz, her brother Jake Gyllenhaal, and her husband Peter Sarsgaard.

      The film opens with a surprise and maintains its pace, not slowing down for exposition, as Gyllenhaal states: “I view exposition as a form of cheating.”

      “I aspired to create something unconventional,” she explains. “The film explores an unconscious, rumbling desire for radical change.”

      The concept began with a fresh depiction of the Bride. Buckley describes the ink splashing across her character’s cheek as “something vibrantly alive — much like the Bride herself.”

      “The monstrous element within her is the overwhelming vitality that is birthed within her,” Buckley indicates. “She’s releasing it — much like the ink is pouring from her. And how fitting that it symbolizes ink, Mary Shelley, writing, and the inkwell — this story is about language, and in a sense, the very substance we write from is emerging from her body.”

      Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jessie Buckley on Reuniting for The Bride!

      Gyllenhaal and Buckley first connected over Zoom while Gyllenhaal was casting The Lost Daughter, considering Buckley for the younger version of Leda, a woman feeling confined by her roles as a wife and mother. Buckley was eager for the role but tried to conceal her enthusiasm.

      “It feels daunting when you genuinely connect with a script during those initial meetings, as you hope for a call saying, ‘We want you,’” Buckley reflects. “But you also hesitate to hope too intensely, fearing heartbreak.”

      At one point, Buckley contemplated texting Gyllenhaal to express her deep connection, saying something like, “Maggie, I feel this story is entrenched in my being” — but she refrained.

      “On that same night, she texted me, asking, ‘Will you be my Leda?’” Buckley recalls. “And I was like, ‘Absolutely!’”

      The Lost Daughter stood out at a time during the pandemic when theaters were closed, leading to numerous films passing without recognition. Gyllenhaal received an Oscar nomination for adapting Elena Ferrante’s novel, Olivia Colman was nominated for her portrayal of the