Kit Harington to star in film about Frankenstein writer Mary Shelley

Game Of Thrones star Kit Harington will appear in a new film about the life of Frankenstein writer Mary Shelley.

The 35-year-old will play the Monster alongside rising Danish actress Clara Rugaard, 24, in the lead role of English Gothic novelist Shelley, who lived between 1797 and 1851.

Irish actor Ferdia Walsh-Peelo will play her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and Sebastian De Souza will play poet Lord Byron.

Further cast will be announced in due course.

The film, titled Mary’s Monster, is described as a “high-concept rock ‘n’ roll take” on Shelley’s mental struggle to write her classic novel.

It will combine couture fashion with gothic horror and tell the 19th-century tale through a modern lens using “contemporary music, spoken word, sex, drugs and Baroque ‘n’ Roll”.

Shooting is scheduled to begin in the UK in August.

Bafta award-winner Farren Blackburn will direct with a script by Deborah Baxtrom and Stephen Hallett.

Harington, best known for playing Jon Snow in HBO epic Game Of Thrones, said: “Mary’s Monster is a brilliantly original and fascinating script and I’m relishing the idea of depicting the unique part of the Monster.

“An embodiment of Mary Shelley’s psyche. I’m excited by Farren’s vision and passion for the project.”

Rugaard said: “I am incredibly honoured to jump on board this project and be a part of telling the story of such an influential and revolutionary woman.

“I’m beyond excited to be bringing this celebrated female voice to life and to further delve into the world and psyche of Mary Shelley.”

Marius de Vries, whose credits include La La Land, Coda and Moulin Rouge, will curate the soundtrack as the film’s executive music producer.

Blackburn said: “Mary’s Monster is a film about female voice, mental health, gender politics and a disenfranchised youth.

“For me, no character in history has ever captured the zeitgeist quite like Mary Shelley and Mary’s Monster is the defining period film for the modern YA generation.

“As a filmmaker, I love that genre allows us to hold a magnifying glass up to these kinds of issues and look at them in the most imaginative way possible and in my opinion it doesn’t get more imaginative than Mary Shelley facing off against her own inner Monster.

“Films this unique and original don’t come along too often and I’m beyond excited to be at the helm.”

The production is a collaboration between Fulwell 73 and New York City’s Rose Pictures.