During filming, Del Toro directed Elordi to make his movement similar to a lost disciple’s, asking him to pray rather than rage. The monster, previously seen as destructive and irredeemable, now feels like a sad, forgotten son rather than a mindless brute. The Express Tribune reports.

Hill Agrees That Elordi Is a Good Replacement

Hill mentioned why Elordi is the right substitute for Garfield; Elordi is “everything rolled into one,” He went on to tell Vanity Fair. “What attracted me to him was his gangliness and his wrists. It was this looseness. Then he has these real somber moments where he watches you really deftly, and his eyelids are low, with the long lashes like Karloff. I was like, ‘I don’t know who else you could get with a physicality like this.’ His demeanor is innocent, but it’s encompassed in a six-foot-five frame. He could really do a lot of damage if this man really wanted to be a bad guy,” Variety reports.

Garfield earlier told Deadline that it was “disappointing” to step away from Frankenstein, but “meeting Jacob felt really serendipitous so that I could really see and hear that, ‘No, maybe he needed that experience more than me.’ That was cool, to feel that he had a really spectacular time on that job.”Frankenstein will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it’s in the running for the Golden Lion. 

Watch Frankenstein on Netflix in November!