Mia Goth's Moment of Greatness

      I met Mia Goth in late August at a small park located in the California Institute of Technology's campus in Pasadena. She chose a shaded bench that overlooked a series of small ponds and was surrounded by buildings filled with brilliant minds of the future. I pointed out the fittingness of our location considering the topic of our discussion. She stars as the female lead in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, the acclaimed director's long-awaited 149-minute, $120 million passion project about a doomed inventor. Here we were, in a space that bridged nature and the expanding realms of scientific inquiry. Goth glanced at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory behind us. "I did think about that," she remarked cheekily. She revealed that she selected this park, with its boulders and bustling terraced pools full of lively turtles, because it has a non-L.A. feel and because she frequents it with her 3-year-old daughter, Isabel, which has become one of their favorite outings. "Having a child reveals the beauty in experiences you once overlooked or didn’t fully appreciate as an adult. She really makes me slow down," she shared with me. "If I were alone, I might just glance at the turtles and move on, but with her, it becomes a whole morning." Goth was not wearing makeup—truly none at all—and radiated happiness. She expressed sincerely that "parenthood is the greatest gift of my life."

      This is a stark contrast to Victor Frankenstein’s experiences as described by Mary Shelley in her famed 1818 novel and depicted in del Toro's upcoming film, set for release this fall on Netflix. The director has made some modifications to the original tale; his version of Dr. Frankenstein (played by Oscar Isaac) grapples with a demanding father and channels the trauma of losing his mother, portrayed briefly by a nearly unrecognizable Goth (I confirmed this with both Netflix and her representatives), into a quest to create life from recovered body parts. However, he becomes a drastically poor father, rejecting and abandoning his creation (played by Jacob Elordi), resulting in unnecessary chaos and loss that could have been mitigated through love and compassion—essentially, good parenting (with Freudian undertones suggesting Victor's tendency toward milk). This enduring story remains relevant over two centuries, resonating in discussions ranging from the French Revolution to the complexities surrounding AI. Shelley's message is clear: just because we are capable of doing something, doesn’t imply we should.

      In del Toro's film, Goth plays Elizabeth Lavenza, a character who in Shelley's novel is Victor's innocent cousin and later his wife, serving primarily as a plot device. In this adaptation, she is a sophisticated young woman with her own intellect, whom Victor feels a strange attraction to. (Could it stem from her striking resemblance to his mother? There's Freud again.) She is engaged to Victor's sincere younger brother and has a wealthy uncle (Christoph Waltz) becoming increasingly involved in Victor's experiments. Goth's portrayal of Elizabeth shows a genuine enthusiasm for science, particularly entomology, alongside a passion for both the natural and supernatural realms. Having spent recent years in a convent, her character personifies female virtue at its highest, embodying kindness, grace, and maternal instincts, accentuated by a cerulean-feathered fascinator that complements Goth's eyes.

      To prepare for her role, Goth spent time with nuns in Alhambra, California, and read extensively on topics del Toro suggested, including entomology, the book of Job, a biography of the 17th-century nun and playwright Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and a study of historical fashion. She created a playlist for her character, predominantly featuring music by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson before intertwining it with songs from Jeff Buckley, Beirut, Eve, Big Sean, and Mariah Carey to balance the tone. Goth found that meditation helped her connect with the deeper essence of her character. "I discovered that when I take the time to quiet my mind and connect with my authentic self, that's where she exists," Goth explains.

      Although she described the filming as magical—"I would do anything Guillermo asked of me," she expressed with a dreamlike enthusiasm—she noted that the atmosphere on set was serious and focused. "Everyone was aware of the significance of our work, and in that way, parts of the job felt solitary," she said. The nature of her character being the sole female in a Victorian setting made her feel persistently isolated.

      Goth believes that all storytelling has biographical elements and feels there’s a part of Shelley in each character. At the time she wrote Frankenstein, the 18-year-old Shelley had eloped with the married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, had lost their first child two years earlier, and was pregnant with another. It was described by The New Yorker in its review of Muriel Spark’s biography as “eight years of