‘Mary Shelley’ Trailer: Elle Fanning Plays ‘Frankenstein’s Author

IFC Films’ period drama Mary Shelley reveals the story behind the author of the classic horror novel, Frankenstein. The official trailer has a definite feminist vibe while exploring the relationships that influenced Shelley’s life and her writing.

The cast includes Elle Fanning as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin/Mary Shelley, Douglas Booth as Percy Shelley, Tom Sturridge as Lord Byron, Bel Powley as Claire, Maisie Williams as Isabel Baxter, Ben Hardy as John Polidori, Joanne Froggatt as Mary Jane Clairmont, and Stephen Dillane as William Godwin.


Haifaa al-Mansour and Emma Jensen wrote the screenplay, and al-Mansour directed. Mary Shelley was produced by Amy Baer, Alan Moloney, and Ruth Coady.

Commenting on the film, writer/director al-Mansour stated, “Mary Shelley is the remarkable true story of a woman who railed against the constraints of her society to create a story that would outlive the work of her contemporaries, including her brilliant parents and husband, to influence generations of writers and dreamers with an entirely new genre: science fiction. Her own story feels so strangely familiar because so much of it ended up allegorically in Frankenstein. We all know the basic story, but her journey reveals so many layers and deeper philosophical elements that help explain the work’s appeal.”

IFC Films has set a May 25, 2018 theatrical release date followed by a June 1st release on VOD.

The Plot: She will forever be remembered as the writer who gave the world Frankenstein. But the real life story of Mary Shelley—and the creation of her immortal monster—is nearly as fantastical as her fiction. Raised by a renowned philosopher father (Stephen Dillane) in 18th-century London, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Elle Fanning) is a teenage dreamer determined to make her mark on the world when she meets the dashing and brilliant poet Percy Shelley (Douglas Booth). So begins a torrid, bohemian love affair marked by both passion and personal tragedy that will transform Mary and fuel the writing of her Gothic masterwork.

Imbued with the imaginative spirit of its heroine, Mary Shelley brings to life the world of a trailblazing woman who defied convention and channeled her innermost demons into a legend for the ages.

Mary Shelley Cast
Tom Sturridge as Byron, Bel Powley as Claire, Elle Fanning as Mary Shelley, and Douglas Booth as Percy Shelley in ‘Mary Shelley’ (Courtesy of IFC Films)