It looks like Javier Bardem is going to be the latest A-list celebrity to join the Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe. The 47-year-old Spanish actor is apparently in talks to “star as Frankenstein” in a spate of shared-universe films based upon the studio’s classic pantheon of monsters, according to Variety. And since that particular trade publication is generally more interested in industry news than pedantically quibbling over nomenclature, it’s probably safe to assume that they mean he will “star as Frankenstein’s monster.”
Bardem was originally offered the part of Dr. Jekyll in the 2017 Tom Cruise-led potential blockbuster The Mummy, according to Variety. He declined, though, so Russell Crowe stepped into the role for that film, and probably for subsequent UMCU installments, including at least one specifically about him and his alter ego, Mr. Hyde. Meanwhile, Bardem—should he officially sign on—will now be playing either Frankenstein’s monster or its creator in a unspecified movie that’s not officially about either Frankenstein’s monster or its creator, before eventually (probably) taking one of the three leads in a movie that is about Frankenstein’s monster, its creator, and its bride. Also, you should know that Johnny Depp is probably going to be playing the Invisible Man, possibly in a movie about the Wolf-Man (which does not currently have a lead), but eventually in a movie about the Invisible Man. The Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe is really shaping up to be something special.