This is the official trailer for “The Bride”! Jesse Buckley (who just won an award for his acclaimed performance in Hamnet) stars opposite Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster, a lonely man looking for a companion. Written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, this is a frenetic genre-bending rehash of classic monster mythology. Watch the trailer above and read on to find out what happens in this punk-inspired romance set in the 1930s.
The monster, the maker, and the reborn woman
“The Bride” is set in a stylized version of 1930s Chicago. It tells the story of a lonely Frankenstein (Christian Bale) who seeks out pioneering scientist Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening) for companionship. A young woman killed by their experiments is brought back to life, and Buckley’s bride is born.
What follows is a spiral of murder, possession, and volatile romance, drawing the two central characters into a lawless cultural upheaval. Buckley’s “Bride” — not, as she makes clear in the trailer, “Bride of Frankenstein” — and Bale’s Frankenstein move like outlaw lovers. They dance in nightclubs, race through city streets, and share an alien sensation that quickly turns dangerous.
Visually and tonally, the trailer suggests a stylish collision of punk attitude and gothic horror, weaving together nightclub spectacle, crime movie energy, and bold musical flourishes.
“Pop, Big, Radical”: Gyllenhaal and Buckley co-star in “Bride”!
At the film’s presentation at CinemaCon 2025 (as quoted by Collider), Gyllenhaal described the project as something she instinctively looked for. “I was looking for something pop and big, but I also wanted it to be radical. I didn’t really know what I wanted,” she explains, later recalling the moment that sparked the direction of the film.
After revisiting The Bride of Frankenstein, Gyllenhaal was struck by the original character’s fragile yet rebellious presence. “In the original ‘Bride of Frankenstein,’ she’s in the movie for three minutes and she’s not saying anything. Even for three minutes, there was a kind of violent disobedience inside her,” she said. This idea became central to the film, which specifically reconsidered the tension between expectation and autonomy. “What happens when that bride returns is beyond his imagination and doesn’t fit into the box he had for her.”
Gyllenhaal also composed the film’s monsters as reflections rather than villains. “I think we all have a little bit of a monster side within us. The monsters in our movies do monstrous things, but they’re also our heroes.”
Buckley echoed that intensity when he reunited with Gyllenhaal after starring in Gyllenhaal’s feature directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, and spoke about his reaction to the script. “When I first read Maggie’s script, I felt like I was connected to an electric current,” she said. “I would describe it as the most punk love that ever existed. It’s like Bonnie and Clyde and Wild at Heart and all those characters, but I think ours has gasoline in its skin, and we’re holding a match.”
cast and creative team
In addition to Buckley and Bale, the film also features Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Penelope Cruz rounding out the ensemble. Gyllenhaal directed from his own script and produced with Emma Tillinger Koskoff (The Irishman, Murders of the Flower Moon), Talia Kleinhendler (The Lost Daughter, The Causeway), and Osnat Handelsman Kellen (The Kindergarten Teacher, The Lost Daughter).
Behind the camera are cinematographer Laurence Sher (Joker, The Hangover), production designer Karen Murphy (Elvis, A Star Is Born), editor Dylan Tichenor (There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread), composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker, Chernobyl), and music director Randall Poster. (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom) and costume designer Sandy Powell (On Her Majesty’s Favorite, Carol).
release date
Bride! It will be released in Australian cinemas on March 5th and in US cinemas on March 6th.
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