Sophie Turner of Game of Thrones fame has been cast in the role of Mary Shelley, the author and creator of Frankenstein.
The story of Frankenstein has been told many, many times on the big screen. But other than a delightful prologue featuring Elsa Lanchester at her most comely in Bride of Frankenstein (1935), the story of author Mary Shelley has been less focused upon by Hollywood. Until now.
In the second announced production of a Mary Shelley film, Sophie Turner of HBO’s hit fantasy series Game of Thrones has been cast in the role of Mary Shelley for Mary Shelley’s Monster. Jeremy Irvine of War Horse and Taissa Farmiga of American Horror Story have also been cast as Percy Shelley and Claire Clairmont, respectively.
The real-life Mary Shelley lived a fascinating and scandalous existence. The daughter of philosophers and cultural pioneers William Godwn and Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was raised with a deep love and appreciation for the previous century she was born in the tail end of, as well as the Age of Enlightenment. However, she would disobey her father when she ran off with a married poet and social justice advocate, Percy Shelley; Mary was 16-years-old. They eloped after Percy’s first wife committed suicide two years later.
Mary Shelley also infamously began writing Frankenstein at age 19 after a bad night’s sleep in stormy Geneva. The dream would first spawn an entry in a competition of horror tales with Lord Byron, whose own short story would (without his permission) become the basis of the first modern English language vampire tale, The Vampyre (1819).
Frankenstein was published anonymously in 1818, and Percy Shelley was first “blamed” for its atheistic and challenging concepts. Mary Shelley herself would eventually live in notoriety and infamy in English circles for writing such a controversial novel.
The film Mary Shelley’s Monster appears to take on a fictional angle where Mary must also contend with a monstrous “alter-ego.”
Producer Rose Ganguzza said, “The story of the most extraordinary 19th century teenage heroine told in a visceral, sexy, contemporary way. Our film is not a period drama. It is a story of youth that transcends time, a gothic romance, a love triangle that involves a dark passenger and we are tremendously excited to have such an exciting cast onboard this wonderful project.”
They could be playing in the rumors that both Mary and Percy Shelley were in an open relationship with Clairmont, but we’d take that with a grain of salt.
This is the second Mary Shelley film in development, as Elle Fanning has likewise been cast as the famed author in A Storm in the Stars.
Mary Shelley’s Monster is being written by Deborah Baxtrom and is to be directed by Coky Giedroyc (Penny Dreadful).
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that's your thing!