Maggie Gyllenhaal talks about empowering the Bride of Frankenstein in “The Bride!”, in cinemas and IMAX now

Maggie Gyllenhaal was at a party when she had a spark of a brilliant idea for her next story. 

“I saw this tattoo of the Bride of Frankenstein at a party and I thought, “Something about this character has captured our culture,’” says Academy Award nominee Gyllenhaal. “And I then went back and watched the movie [“Bride of Frankenstein” (1935)]  for the first time, because I had never seen it, and 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. 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.”

Watch the trailer for “The Bride!”: 

Jessie Buckley, who plays the film’s titular character, describes “The Bride!” as “intense. It’s a wild abandoned life force. It’s passion on the brink. It’s a revolution. It’s a new language!” says Buckley, who, this year, achieved her second Academy Award nomination, for her performance in “Hamnet.” “It’s giving voice to The Bride who has never been given a voice before. She’s not satisfied to just be reinvigorated as mate. She wants autonomy of the self. And goes on a journey to discover herself in this world so she can be fully in a relationship with Frank. She wants the full story. She can’t be in a relationship that’s half-full. She wants the whole truth, because I think once she’s reborn, she demands absolute life, and absolute love. And it isn’t perfect. It’s a risk, y’know to live and love like that! Our potential to do all sorts of things is huge, and the bride and frank do some fucked up things. But it isn’t without consequence.”

Gyllenhaal is excited for movie audiences to see her latest film in cinemas, including on IMAX. “Instead of having it be only this big world-building set piece, or this big action sequence, we instead decided to grow where it made sense emotionally,” says Gyllenhaal in a new IMAX featurette for the film. “We built the expanding of the frame to coalesce with emotional shifts and changes. You feel it, like in your chest. It’s got the roller coaster aspect that I think IMAX offers. But then it has this other aspect of cracking open your heart… It’s trippy.” 

Watch “The Bride! – The IMAX Experience” here:

“I can’t wait to see that,” says Academy Award winner Christian Bale, who plays Frankenstein, in the same featurette. 

Experience a bold, iconoclastic take on one of the world’s most compelling stories when “The Bride!” opens only in cinemas March 4. #TheBrideMovie

About “The Bride!”: 

From Maggie Gyllenhaal (Academy Award-nominated writer/director of “The Lost Daughter”) and starring Academy Award nominee Jessie Buckley and Academy Award winner Christian Bale comes THE BRIDE! A bold, iconoclastic take on one of the world’s most compelling stories.

A lonely Frankenstein (Bale) travels to 1930s Chicago to ask groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious (five-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening) to create a companion for him. The two revive a murdered young woman and The Bride (Buckley) is born. What ensues is beyond what either of them imagined: Murder! Possession! A wild and radical cultural movement! And outlaw lovers in a wild and combustible romance!

The film stars Buckley, Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, with Bening, Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, and Oscar winner Penélope Cruz. Maggie Gyllenhaal directs from her own screenplay and produces alongside Oscar nominee Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Talia Kleinhendler and Osnat Handelsman Keren. The executive producers are Carla Raij, David Webb and Courtney Kivowitz.

Gyllenhaal is supported behind the camera by a team of award-winning film artisans, including director of photography Lawrence Sher, production designer Karen Murphy, editor Dylan Tichenor, music supervisor Randall Poster, composer Hildur Gudnadóttir and costume designer Sandy Powell. 

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A First Love Films / In The Current Company Production, A Maggie Gyllenhaal Film: THE BRIDE!. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, only in theaters and IMAX in North America on March 6, 2026, and internationally beginning 4 March 2026. #TheBrideMovie