A chance moment at a party sparked the fire behind Maggie Gyllenhaal’s bold reimagining of a horror icon.

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker recalls spotting a tattoo of the Bride of Frankenstein and feeling instantly intrigued. “I saw this tattoo of the Bride of Frankenstein at a party and I thought, ‘Something about this character has captured our culture,’” she says.

That curiosity led her back to the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein — a film she admits she had never watched before. What she discovered surprised her.

“I found it really interesting that she’s not really in it. I will say Elsa Lanchester makes a real impact. I mean, she’s in it for three minutes, but she has somehow taken the culture by storm. But to be honest, she doesn’t talk. She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t get an opportunity to express herself.”

For Gyllenhaal, that silence became the story.

“And I thought it was an interesting puzzle. This guy [Frankenstein] understandably is so lonely looking for a mate. But then, just anyone will do, and bringing someone back who doesn’t have any agency herself. So, what happens if you take that same format, that same story, but you give her a huge amount of agency, and give her a huge amount of need, and intelligence, and soulfulness, and vulnerability, and power? Then what happens? That seemed like a puzzle worth getting into.”

That question fuels The Bride!, her latest directorial effort, arriving in cinemas and IMAX beginning 4 March. The film stars Jessie Buckley in the title role opposite Christian Bale as Frankenstein.

Set in 1930s Chicago, the story follows a lonely creature who seeks out an audacious scientist, Dr. Euphronious (played by Annette Bening), to engineer him a companion. But when a murdered young woman is resurrected as the Bride, the outcome is far from a simple love story. Instead, the film spirals into obsession, rebellion, and a volatile romance that ignites a cultural uprising.