Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude, known for his irreverent style and unconventional takes on popular culture, already has a new project underway. After presenting Kontinental ’25 at the Berlinale earlier in 2025 and offering his unique vision of Dracula at the Locarno Festival, the director now aims to reinvent another literary icon: Frankenstein.

The news was confirmed by Jude himself in an interview with the Romanian outlet Cultura la Duba. According to him, it will not be a faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel, but rather a personal reinterpretation that connects the figure of the monster with dark episodes from recent history. The story will take as its starting point the secret CIA detention centers that operated in Romania after the September 11, 2001 attacks, where terrorism suspects were held and tortured.

The project came about after actor Sebastian Stan proposed a collaboration to Jude. For the director, the opportunity to work with an international figure without losing sight of Romania’s cultural perspective and context was key in developing the idea. For now, no shooting dates have been set, nor have any production companies been announced, but everything suggests the film will continue the provocative and politically charged line that characterizes Jude’s work.