i bought the $70 book about guillermo del toro's frankenstein film because i'm nuts, and here are some of my favorite highlights thus far:
• the fact that all jacob elordi really had to say for guillermo to cast him was "my father is spanish. also i went to catholic school and felt scared and deeply uncomfortable there" like...GDT's requirements are: you gotta be hispanic/latine, be filled with catholic guilt, or BOTH
• [regarding the nine hour prosthetic application process] "elordi recalls, 'the first thing guillermo said to me was that it would be my skin, and i would have to take the sacrament. like every morning, getting the prosthetics put on would be like the eucharist. that's how he spoke about it from the moment i came to the project.'" THAT'S INSANE LMAO
• this quote from jacob - "i love that the film doesn't have a fatalistic ending. what recourse does the creature have but to live? in all the drudgery and sadness and rejection, what else will you do but keep walking toward the sun?"
• the character of william frankenstein was based on guillermo as a child. guillermo gave the actor, felix kammerer, a photo of himself where he looked very little and sad and lonely, and felix carried that photo with him for the entirety of the film.
• the makeup artist applied subtle prosthetics to mia goth's face when she played victor's mother in order to make her look slightly more similar to oscar isaac
• jacob had to wear oversized fake teeth because of the way the prosthetics altered the proportions of his face. they also gave him large dark contact lenses to make him even more doe-eyed/baby-ish.
"Isaac laughs remembering "One time we were looking at the monitor and Guillermo said to me, 'A European would never make this movie that we're making. This is a Latino-telenovela version of the story. It is not a coincidence that my Victor Frankenstein isn't being played by an English person, it's being played by Oscar Isaac Hernández from Guatemala." Speaking in Spanish with his director was comforting to Isaac. "It was truly the first time I felt like I was making something with a family member. Even though its Mary Shelley, and the story takes place in Geneva and Scotland, I felt so connected to my heritage. It bubbled up from the earth. It felt like an ancestral journey for me." [Frankenstein: Written and Directed by Guillermo del Toro]
Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein is about forgiving the person who brought you into this world without your permission when you do not want to be alive, and about forgiving yourself for being alive and accepting your life free of guilt and that is genuinely the most beautiful, validating thing I have ever seen in a film.
Into Darkness is by no means a perfect movie, but Spock's speech about caring is one of the hardest hitting moments in all of Star Trek in my opinion.
There is such a deep longing to the music as Spock brings up the destruction of Vulcan (by the way, the track is called Spock and Uhura and yes it’s a reprise of An Endangered Species from the first movie), and such a raw vulnerability to the characters. Nyota and Jim are at a loss for words as they see Spock’s distance for what it is: deep, deep seated trauma, combined with extraordinary resilience.
There’s something so spot-on about Vulcans in general too. Everyone here already knew that Vulcans do experience emotions, but Spock admitting to it leading with a simple “You misunderstand” still feels like the unearthing of a closely kept secret. You can see the realization in Nyota and Jim’s eyes, as Spock explains that he’s not rejecting emotions because he holds them in contempt but rather because they’re just too vast and too painful – that who he is is a choice he’s holding onto, and not a character flaw he’s in denial about. The intimate confession flips the script on the humans who wanted the Vulcan to feel the full weight of their anger, annoyance and concern, and end up grappling with the full weight of his grief instead.
And the fact that they’re not facing each other! Like it’s something too monumental to discuss face-to-face! How Spock’s soft words are so powerful they convey everything. Combined with the music and the duality of the soft, warm light and blue shadows, it’s like the echoes of Vulcan are right there, like desert sands and ocean-deep sorrow.
And of course there is the absolutely heart-wrenching ode to romance that is the last line: “Nyota, you mistake my choice not to feel as a reflection of my not caring. Well, I assure you, the truth is precisely the opposite.” This is the single most achingly tender thing ever said.
(video transcript:)
[Spock, Nyota Uhura and Jim Kirk are flying in a shuttlecraft. They're all facing their consoles/the viewports and all have their backs to each other, with their seats in a triangle.]
Spock: "Your suggestion that I do not care about dying is incorrect. A sentient being's optimal chance at maximizing their utility is a long and prosperous life."
[Nyota rolls her eyes]
Nyota: "Great."
Jim: "Not exactly a love song, Spock."
Spock: "You misunderstand. It is true I chose not to feel anything upon realizing that my own life was ending. As admiral Pike was dying, I joined with his consciousness and experienced what he felt at the moment of his passing. Anger. Confusion. Loneliness. Fear. [Nyota's expression shifts. Spock and Uhura/An Endangered Species starts playing] I had experienced those feelings before, multiplied exponentially on the day my planet was destroyed. [Jim is listening intently, with a somewhat pained expression.] Such a feeling is something I choose never to experience again. [Spock speaks over his shoulder in Uhura's direction while she listens, looking touched.] Nyota, you mistake my choice not to feel as a reflection of my not caring. Well, I assure you, the truth is precisely the opposite." [Nyota leans back against her headrest with a soft smile.]
I'll never get over the fact that since SNW, we now know they are the two crew members of the TOS Enterprise who have known each other for the longest time-
How did Uhura feel when her best friend died in TWOK now I wonder...
Into Darkness is by no means a perfect movie, but Spock's speech about caring is one of the hardest hitting moments in all of Star Trek in my opinion.
There is such a deep longing to the music as Spock brings up the destruction of Vulcan (by the way, the track is called Spock and Uhura and yes it’s a reprise of An Endangered Species from the first movie), and such a raw vulnerability to the characters. Nyota and Jim are at a loss for words as they see Spock’s distance for what it is: deep, deep seated trauma, combined with extraordinary resilience.
There’s something so spot-on about Vulcans in general too. Everyone here already knew that Vulcans do experience emotions, but Spock admitting to it leading with a simple “You misunderstand” still feels like the unearthing of a closely kept secret. You can see the realization in Nyota and Jim’s eyes, as Spock explains that he’s not rejecting emotions because he holds them in contempt but rather because they’re just too vast and too painful – that who he is is a choice he’s holding onto, and not a character flaw he’s in denial about. The intimate confession flips the script on the humans who wanted the Vulcan to feel the full weight of their anger, annoyance and concern, and end up grappling with the full weight of his grief instead.
And the fact that they’re not facing each other! Like it’s something too monumental to discuss face-to-face! How Spock’s soft words are so powerful they convey everything. Combined with the music and the duality of the soft, warm light and blue shadows, it’s like the echoes of Vulcan are right there, like desert sands and ocean-deep sorrow.
And of course there is the absolutely heart-wrenching ode to romance that is the last line: “Nyota, you mistake my choice not to feel as a reflection of my not caring. Well, I assure you, the truth is precisely the opposite.” This is the single most achingly tender thing ever said.
(video transcript:)
[Spock, Nyota Uhura and Jim Kirk are flying in a shuttlecraft. They're all facing their consoles/the viewports and all have their backs to each other, with their seats in a triangle.]
Spock: "Your suggestion that I do not care about dying is incorrect. A sentient being's optimal chance at maximizing their utility is a long and prosperous life."
[Nyota rolls her eyes]
Nyota: "Great."
Jim: "Not exactly a love song, Spock."
Spock: "You misunderstand. It is true I chose not to feel anything upon realizing that my own life was ending. As admiral Pike was dying, I joined with his consciousness and experienced what he felt at the moment of his passing. Anger. Confusion. Loneliness. Fear. [Nyota's expression shifts. Spock and Uhura/An Endangered Species starts playing] I had experienced those feelings before, multiplied exponentially on the day my planet was destroyed. [Jim is listening intently, with a somewhat pained expression.] Such a feeling is something I choose never to experience again. [Spock speaks over his shoulder in Uhura's direction while she listens, looking touched.] Nyota, you mistake my choice not to feel as a reflection of my not caring. Well, I assure you, the truth is precisely the opposite." [Nyota leans back against her headrest with a soft smile.]
they were going to give him a katana and have him be a samurai, but he didn’t want to be stereotypical, so he told the execs that he could fence and they wrote in references to the three musketeers instead
Not only that, but he found he liked fencing, kept it up, and became a master fencer.
When I had the privilege to hear him talk at AwesomeCon 2015, he informed us he is a master fencer. It was a very clear implication that he is still fencing at his advanced age. No wonder he’s so healthy.
He had far too much fun with this episode and it shows.
“In the end, [Takei] loved his sword-fighting scene so much he held onto the rapier for several hours, poking stage hands with it and engaging in mock duels off the set.” – IMDB’s trivia
