Remaking a Classic Monster

Boris Karloff made him a monster-movie star. Elsa Lanchester was his bride. He’s co-starred with Gene Wilder, the Wolf Man and Dracula, not to mention Abbott and Costello. He’s been played by everyone from Bela Lugosi to Robert De Niro.

Of course, he is Frankenstein’s monster, the granddaddy of Hollywood creatures. Nearly 70 years after his first sound film, he is coming back to life, this time as the star of an all computer-generated feature film slated for release by Universal Pictures on Halloween, 2000.

The monster’s comeback was sparked by a 17-second test film created earlier this year by Industrial Light & Magic, the respected visual-effects firm known for its work on “Jurassic Park,” “Men in Black” and the “Star Wars” series. The computer-animated footage shows a Shaquille O’Neal-sized hulk lumbering downstairs into his lair, the floor thudding with each step as if his legs were veined with concrete. Suddenly a door flies open, piercing the room with a shaft of light.

Surprised, the giant turns toward us, the light illuminating the familiar scars on his hairline and the bolt in his neck. But what impressed Universal Pictures Chairman Casey Silver about the footage was the vulnerable look in the Frankenstein monster’s eyes. They were the eyes of a real man, not something created on a computer keyboard.

“When I saw that test, I knew the time was right to see Frankenstein again,” Silver says. “Seeing him walk, with that face and those eyes, he had the timeless feel of something old and new, like a cross between a classic ’59 Cadillac and a stylish new car.”

Shrouded in secrecy until now, the film represents Universal’s first full-scale foray into Hollywood’s increasingly crowded field of computer-generated films, where a movie’s visual elements are all created digitally in a computer. Budgeted at roughly $80 million, “The Frankenstein CG Project,” as it is currently known, marks the first creative partnership between ILM and a Hollywood studio. The relationship, similar to the one between Pixar and Disney on “A Bug’s Life,” gives ILM its first start-to-finish involvement in a computer-generated film.

And at a time when Universal has been mired in a prolonged box-office slump, it gives the studio an opportunity to launch a new big-screen franchise.

“Movies like ‘Lost World’ and ‘Babe’ [both Universal films] have proved that you can make dinosaurs run and pigs talk,” Silver says. “It’s always a crap shoot, but we think that by using new technology and great storytelling technique we can reintroduce the characters that put our studio on the map 60 years ago.” (A documentary about those films, called “Universal Horror,” can be seen Oct. 9 on cable’s Turner Classic Movies.)

Freshening the Staples

To use the current Hollywood parlance, Universal is “refreshing the library.” For years, studios have looked enviously at Disney Films, which has boosted profits by carefully re-releasing its venerable library of animation classics. More recently, Disney set the pace by reinventing “101 Dalmatians” in 1996 as a live-action film and creating a new franchise with “Toy Story,” the first entirely computer-generated animated film.

The films offered an attractive financial model, since the studio didn’t have to share its take with back-end participants, as it often does with big-star live-action films. They also presented an instant synergy opportunity, since most computer-generated film subjects are natural spinoffs for video games, TV shows and theme park attractions.

Now Disney’s rivals are hoping to expand the new computer-animation universe:

* DreamWorks, which is releasing “Antz” today, has several other projects in the works that use computer animation, including “Prince of Egypt” and “El Dorado.”

* Sony is making “Stuart Little,” a film version of the popular children’s tale that will blend live action and computer animation.

* New Line is making a three-film series of “Lord of the Rings” that will use extensive computer effects.

* Disney is busy making more computer-generated films, including “Toy Story 2” and an action-adventure saga called “Expedition.”

Eager to get into the game, Universal recently launched an Animation and Visual Effects division designed to create new computer-generated projects.

“When you look at the economics of the movie business, Disney has always had a leg up because of its animation library,” Silver says. “We felt it would be tough to compete with Disney in the animation business, but with computer-generated movies it’s more of a level playing field.”

As it turned out, Universal had a great card to play--its gallery of monster movies, which offered a natural storehouse of characters that could be reinvented as computer-generated films. In addition to Frankenstein, Universal’s library includes such characters as the Mummy (due for release next year as a live-action feature with computer effects), the Wolf Man (who will co-star in the Frankenstein film), the Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Creature From the Black Lagoon.

“The timing is perfect because the technology can now take characters to places they could never go before,” says John Swallow, head of production technology at Universal’s visual effects division. “You couldn’t have made this movie in the computer five years ago. ‘Jurassic Park’ made a big leap forward in terms of skinning and motion. But while the dinosaurs could tear things up, they couldn’t act. ‘Dragonheart’ made a leap in creating a character with a facial animation that actually had emotion. . . . We’re always making little leaps forward. If we have a problem, someone ends up writing a new computer code that takes us to a new level.”

It’s Alive, It’s Alive in San Rafael Computers

Although “Frankenstein” isn’t due in the theaters for two years, the film is already being created in a bank of computers in four temporary trailers at ILM’s San Rafael headquarters. It’s a sign of the complex nature of the project that it is being overseen by two directors, longtime ILM visual effects supervisor Dave Carson and Brent Maddock, a veteran screenwriter (“The Wild, Wild West”) who co-wrote the “Frankenstein” script with writing partner S.S. Wilson.

The project came about after Universal approached ILM with a list of films from its library. ILM and Carson were especially enthusiastic about re-creating “Frankenstein,” using state-of-the-art technology but remaining faithful to the original 1931 James Whale film’s classic design. Silver sought out Maddock and Wilson, who’d written “Tremors,” a 1990 film whose blend of horror and humor seemed appropriate for an updated “Frankenstein.”

Noted Maddock: “We’re using computer technology to re-create the original Jack Pierce makeup and the Boris Karloff profile and have the monster look the way he ought to look. It’s a computer-graphic movie, but it’s not about ants or toys. It’s about a real human being.

“Frankenstein is an icon, but I’m not sure that kids who’ve seen him in cartoons know him as he was originally presented. He’s a sweet, lost soul who has a nobility that’s very endearing. He’s just misunderstood, because if you cross him he’s going to kill you.”

Although no one is eager to divulge any plot details, Maddock says the story will retain a period setting “somewhere in 19th century Europe.”

It’s a labor-intensive challenge. Most special-effects-laden live-action films require 200 to 300 computer-generated shots. For “Frankenstein,” ILM expects to generate close to 1,500 shots.

Two Directors Creating One Monster

Having two directors on the project helps divide the immense workload. “So far it looks like we’re making the same movie,” says Carson, a 20-year ILM veteran whose first job was working on “The Empire Strikes Back.” “We complement each other well--obviously Brent does more work on the script while I do more of the computer-graphic nuts and bolts.”

Right now, the major work is involved with building models and story-boarding scenes from the script that will be created by computer artists. Instead of casting actors, Carson and Maddock are designing characters, deciding the size of their heads and the shape of their bodies. The only actors around are auditioning for voice-over roles. Maddock says when they read for their parts, he’s learned to close his eyes so he won’t be influenced by what they look like.

Can computer animation transform Hollywood’s oldest monster into an icon for the new millennium? It’s no sure bet. “Godzilla” was a huge disappointment this summer for Sony Pictures. Still, Universal is betting that computer technology will help “repurpose” Frankenstein, studio lingo for giving a fresh spin to a familiar character.

“This is a perfect strategic way to take a distinctive character from our library and give it a unique new spin for contemporary audiences,” Silver says. “It’s still all about using imagination and great storytelling. But there’s so much value to having a great character, whether it’s for sequels or theme parks or toys, that if the movie works it can give you a whole new franchise.”