A new biopic about Mary Shelley and the creation of Frankenstein is on the way

A new biopic about Mary Shelley and her most famous creation, Frankenstein, is in the works. According to Variety, the project will focus on Mary’s struggle to write the novel, which was ultimately published in 1818. The movie is currently titled Mary’s Monster and is being produced by Fulwell 73 and Rose Pictures.

TV director Farren Blackburn will direct based on a screenplay from Deborah Baxtrom. The logline reads: “Terrified of giving voice to the darkness of her subconscious mind, Mary Shelley locks into a dangerous battle with her own ‘inner monster’ as she struggles to write her seminal science fiction novel, Frankenstein.” No casting has been announced yet.

It’s not the first movie to tackle this time in Shelley’s life. 2017's Mary Shelley starred Elle Fanning as the author and Douglas Booth as her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. But plenty of other media has taken a stab at adapting Mary and her story somewhat, including a 2020 episode of Doctor Who. And obviously Frankenstein (and his monster) have had their fair share of adaptations. It’s not clear how much this movie plans on blending the two.

Mary’s life was famously hard. She was the daughter of famed feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, for whom she was named, but the elder Mary died less than a month after Mary’s birth. According to scholars, her mother’s grave became a frequent site for consolation for Mary; she even learned to write her name by tracing it off Wollstonecraft’s tombstone. And, yes, she probably had sex for the very first time on top of the tomb.

Fullwell 73 currently produces The Late Late Show With James Corden and produced the Camilo Cabello-led Cinderella, which Corden was also in. There probably isn’t a role for the TV host in Mary’s Monster but somehow he always finds a way.