Frankenstein: Guillermo del Toro, Jacob Elordi and Matthew Sweet

This event, originally titled ‘Frankenstein: Guillermo del Toro in conversation’, took place on 7 December 2025. The information below is correct as of the publication date. The acclaimed films of Guillermo del Toro are inspired by his love and knowledge of classic gothic and mysterious literature, from Edgar Allan Poe and Daphne du Maurier to the darker works of the Brontës and Dickens. It is no surprise therefore that his astonishing version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, available on Netflix now, is very true to the original novel, while at the same time full of his own breathtaking imagination, casting and production. We welcomed Guillermo del Toro to the British Library, home of one the greatest collections of world literature, for a special evening of conversation with Matthew Sweet. They were joined by Jacob Elordi, who has been widely acclaimed for his portrayal of the Creature in Frankenstein. Thumbnail credit: Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images for Netflix To join more online and in person events visit our website: https://events.bl.uk/ Discover more of our past events at our playlist:    • Public talks, discussions and performances   Speaker Bios: Mexican-born filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has created a distinctive cinematic style mixing the world of horror, fantasy, and exuberant personal visual imagery. Since his 1993 feature debut, Cronos, he has directed and produced numerous acclaimed films including The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth, Mimic, Hellboy, Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water, which was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture and Best Director. His first stop-motion feature, Pinocchio, which he directed alongside the late Mark Gustafson, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film. His live-action feature, Frankenstein, is out now. Jacob Elordi plays the Creature in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. He rose to prominence with his role as Noah in Netflix's The Kissing Booth and as Nate Jacobs in the HBO drama series Euphoria. In 2023, Elordi played Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola's Priscilla and starred as Felix Catton in Emerald Fennell's black comedy thriller Saltburn, earning a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Matthew Sweet is co-writer, with Mark Gatiss, of the U&Alibi series, Bookish. He presents Free Thinking on BBC Radio 4 and Sound of Cinema on BBC Radio 3. His 25 years of programmes include The Culture Show (BBC2), Checking into History (C4), five series of The Philosophers Arms (Radio 4) and 1922: The Birth of Now, a ten-part history of modernism (Radio 4). He is the author of Inventing the Victorians (Faber, 2001), Shepperton Babylon (Faber, 2005), The West End Front (Faber, 2011) and Operation Chaos (Picador 2018). He has been film critic of the Independent on Sunday, photography critic of Newsweek and fashion columnist for 1843/The Economist. In 2017 he and the baker Frances Quinn achieved a chocolate-related Guinness World record that held good until 2022, when it was broken by Ant and Dec. Liberation Radio, his collaboration with the sound artist Nhung Nguyen and filmmaker Esther Johnson, runs at the Index Contemporary Art Foundation in Stockholm until January. His novel, The New Forest Murders, was published by Simon and Schuster in June; his biography The Great Dictator: A Life of Barbara Cartland will be published in 2026. The British Library is a charity. Your support helps us open up a world of knowledge and inspiration for everyone. Donate today: https://support.bl.uk/Donate