Reincarnation of Frankenstein,2004

Oct 1, 2004

Published: Friday, October 1, 2004
Reincarnation of Frankenstein
By DAVE MASON, The Scripps Howard News Service
“Blade II” actor Luke Goss says his Frankenstein’s monster is more like the one envisioned by author Mary Shelley – a being trying to define himself – rather than the nuts-and-bolts one made famous by Boris Karloff.

Whatever form or shape the character takes, the question remains whether he has a soul.

Goss stars as the creature in the two-part Hallmark Channel miniseries “Frankenstein,” which premieres at 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. (Each part repeats at 11 both nights.)

Goss said he wanted the part because of the creature’s struggle with loneliness. He’s a one-of-a-kind being in a world that rejects him.

“The original novel was about a man who, once he decides he is a man, decides whether he should want more from his life,” the 36-year-old London native said in a phone interview. “There is the question of whether he has a soul because he’s made up of the parts of men whose souls have been taken.

“Sadly, I don’t think he does have a soul,” Goss said. “I would say if God saw that he was good, he would have a soul.”

But the creature, made by Victor Frankenstein (Alec Newman), forfeits his chance for a soul when he commits cold-blooded murder, Goss said. Even as rage leads him to the act, the creature is horrified by what he is doing and becoming in the process, Goss said.

Goss said his heavy makeup meant he had to rely on his eyes to express the creature’s emotions. For him, the acting was more of an internal, than external, process.

“You can’t overact,” Goss said. “Strangely enough, when you feel (the character’s emotions) with great intensity, the makeup does read.”

The important thing with Frankenstein’s creature or any other character is take it seriously, even if the play or movie is a comedy, said Goss, whose stage experience varies from “Grease” to the musical version of the Ed Woods classic “Plan 9 From Outer Space.” Besides “Frankenstein,” Goss has been busy acting in theatrical movies, such as this year’s “Cold and Dark” and “Charlie.”

Goss said he and “Frankenstein” co-star Donald Sutherland, who plays Capt. Walton, are glad that movie scenes are filmed out of sequence. When viewers see the first scene for a character, the actor has had time to develop the role and grow into it, he said.

And whether viewers remain interested in a character depends on what they see in the first 10 minutes, Goss said.