Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ gets nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture
The Mexican director’s ambitious adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel is also competing in the Adapted Screenplay category
Frankenstein, the ambitious adaptation of Mary Shelley’s same-name novel by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, has received nine Oscar nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which announced its nominees on Thursday. The film by the Guadalajara-born filmmaker is nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for its star, Jacob Elordi, among other categories.
Guillermo del Toro, 61, is no stranger to the Hollywood pantheon. Throughout his career, he has accumulated seven nominations and won three golden statuettes: two for The Shape of Water (Best Picture and Best Director) in 2018, and one for Pinocchio (Best Animated Feature) in 2023.
Guillermo del Toro’s version of Frankenstein, a cinematic dream he had obsessed with since the age of 11 and which took him half a century to realize, centers on the brilliant but obsessive scientist Victor Frankenstein (played by Oscar Isaac), who creates a creature (played by Jacob Elordi) from body parts taken from corpses in a bid to defy death and God. This ambition results in a tragic tale of loneliness, rejection, and the eternal question of who the real monster is, exploring human imperfection and the father-son relationship through the director’s characteristic visual and aesthetic compassion.
The director has stated that his adaptation, a gothic, fantastical and modern version of the British author’s book, seeks to fill biographical gaps that haven’t been actively explored but are present in other works by the writer, such as tyrannical father figures or the idea of war that defines the Romantic movement.
Del Toro’s gothic tale kicked off awards season with five Golden Globe nominations, including Best Drama, Best Director, Best Actor in a Drama and Best Supporting Actor for its stars, Isaac and Elordi, respectively. Del Toro went home empty-handed that day, losing to films like One Battle After Another and Hamnet, which are also considered frontrunners at the Academy Awards.
However, Elordi won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Creature in early January 2026, which still leaves him as a strong contender for the ceremony to be held on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition