Max Landis’ Frankenstein movie is now Victor Frankenstein, is also now about Igor
Nobody can do straight adaptations of books anymore. They’re as played out as books are in general. Every movie version of a book has to have some kind of clever twist, like setting it in a different time period or making it a prequel/sequel or making someone else the point-of-view character. Now, finally, we know how James McAvoy’s Frankenstein movie—which is being directed by Paul McGuigan and written by Max Landis—will twist the formula: It’s a prequel and it’s told from the perspective of Frankenstein’s creepy assistant, Igor.
As reported by Entertainment Weekly, the movie has been re-titled Victor Frankenstein, and it will focus on Daniel Radcliffe’s Igor instead of James McAvoy’s Victor Frankenstein—who the movie is named after. It’s presumably not being called Igor to avoid confusing it with the John Cusack-starring 2008 animated comedy of the same name, which everyone certainly remembers. Also, as EW points out, Igor wasn’t actually in Mary Shelley’s original novel, but it’s not like that’s relevant to what happens in an adaptation of it.
Victor Frankenstein will reportedly be an origin story—because of course it is—that tells how Igor first befriended the plucky young Frankenstein when he was just a cheery medical student who hadn’t yet embarked on a quest to personally offend God. Along the way, he’ll witness “how Frankenstein became the man—and the legend—we know today.”
Also, at this point it’s unclear how Victor Frankenstein will tie into Aaron Eckhart’s I, Frankenstein, but we imagine that will be covered in a post-credits stinger.