The Empire Film Podcast Dial Mum For H (ft. guests Jessie Buckley & Maggie Gyllenhaal)
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Mar 6, 2026 
Maggie Gyllenhaal, writer-director known for bold, character-driven films, and Jessie Buckley, actor and singer starring as the Bride, join to discuss their daring reimagining of Frankenstein. They talk makeup and the Bride's look. They explain the film's voice, black ink motif, playing multiple roles, on-set pregnancy, casting surprises, and balancing ambition with studio backing.
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How The Bride's Look Was Invented
- Jessie Buckley described Nadia Stacey's makeup process that used lightning-burn patterns to create the Bride's iconic inked look.
- Nadia tested electrical-bolt motifs and bleaching (white lashes/eyebrows) to make a look both beautiful and monstrous unique to this film.
Black Ink As A Metaphor For Finding Voice
- Maggie Gyllenhaal framed the Bride as a voice for the silenced, using the black ink motif to externalize being unheard and then finding expression.
- The ink and throat-clogging imagery become the story device that lets the character 'clear her throat' and gain agency.
Jessie's Mary Shelley Jazz
- Jessie Buckley explained playing Mary Shelley and the Bride felt like 'playing jazz' with three women inside her, developed over a year of prep.
- She filmed Mary Shelley scenes eight months pregnant, connecting her real pregnancy to Shelley's creative 'creation' metaphor.