Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein

The sets have all been scattered to the four winds.

All that stands is...

this fireplace.

But 40 years ago, this is where my father,

David Harbour Jr.,

conducted the noble experiment of producing plays for television.

Hello. I'm David Harbour III.

And you may not know this about me,

but I come from a long line of actors.

Recently, I was confronted with my legacy

while I was battling rats in my mother's attic,

and I discovered some lost footage from Dad's old televised theatricals.

We've been logging that footage, looking for insight.

Insight into my father.

Dad was a classically trained actor.

That's how I got into Juilliard!

But he was soon confronted by changing cultural tastes.

So, why are you here?

His star fading,

he mounted a production that was a desperate mix

of old

and new.

Why this play?

At this moment in time?

What were the psychological forces at work?

But it was fucked up!

- I hate secrets. - What secrets?

- Don't you? - I need answers.

I told you, David. I told you not to dig.

Why this play?

Where to start?

The start of the story, of course. But which story? And whose?

Did it begin when I created life, or when I myself was created?

Am I a monster?

A man?

Who's that?

I hear them still. But I won't listen.

Not anymore.

No, this is my version.

Could she have let herself in?

It makes no difference now.

She was there.

She was there.

Yes, yes.

The proverbial starting gun.

Don't touch that.

It's a gun.

Aren't you going to move it?

Why would I?

But you know what Chekhov said.

Chekhov?

He said that if a gun is onstage in the first act...

...it needs to go off later in the play.

Your mother is dying.

Is there anything you can do?

I'm just trying to keep her comfortable.

I didn't become a doctor to play God.

Yes.

Well, as impressive as it is that you've created something akin to human life,

we need to make sure that you can sustain that life.

You want to meet Frankenstein.

- You're Frankenstein. - Yes, yes.

I'm Dr. Frankenstein. Common mistake.

For you?

Too much time on the island.

You want to meet Frankenstein's...

My...

monster?

We best be going.

Yes. I see a storm is rolling in.

Mmm, it's not the storm, it's the dark.

I welcome the storm, the wet lashings, the freezing wind,

the sting of the salt.

Hello.

Hello.

Don't get too close.

This was a successful introduction, we're building on success.

A bite could set him back six months.

A bite?

So he's not fully socialized?

Oh, no. We'll have to work with him for years

before it's safe for him to even shake hands.

Oh! He's going for the gun!

Get out of here!

Stick to the protocol, you fool.

Remember, you're pretending to be me, Dr. Frankenstein,

while I pretend to be the life that you've created

in order to secure funding from her, who represents the Research Institute.

But this is not going to work

if you don't stick to the pre-approved list of things to say.

How am I supposed to stick to the list,

when she can say whatever she wants?

Use one of the default phrases. For example,

"I have to get back to the lab," or, "My mind is in the lab," or...

better yet, just say nothing.

Remember to say no...

Is it safe?

The sea captain left without me.

Seems as though I'll have to spend the night.

What made my father such an incredible actor?

Was it the same things that caused him to be a disinterested father?

I've recreated my father's office,

and I'll be bringing in some of his colleagues,

hopefully to spark some memories.

Did my father have a compulsion to court disaster?

Or like Dr. Frankenstein...

did he have a desire to play God?

Your father loved to challenge himself.

I mean,

he bit off a lot with this play.

That dual role, right?

Uh...

- Frankenstein and the monster. - No.

Um...

He was Dr. Frankenstein,

who sometimes pretended to be the monster.

So, uh... so, Joey Vallejo, the actor who played opposite my father,

- the actor who played Sal. - Joey.

Joey was the hot, young thing at the time.

So, it was only natural

that he and your father would clash.

What? I thought they got along really well.

- I thought that was... - Oh, no. They were competitive.

And they shouldn't have been. He needed Joey.

And Joey needed him, because Joey didn't really know that much. Your Dad did.

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring actors, what would it be?

It'd be impossible for me. I'd need to give three.

Enunciate.

Enunciate. Enunciate.

He had no patience for the young actors who wouldn't put in the work.

Right from the get-go, when Joey came in to audition,

he was very, um...

Force of nature...

- Yes, he was very... - Yeah.

I mean, I don't know if you'd call it a force of nature.

- He was very... just chaotic. - Ooh.

I mean, he didn't, uh... He didn't know any of his lines.

Mmm.

He wandered around sort of aimlessly,

kind of knocking things over on the desk and stuff.

What did he... What did he do? What did he do in the audition?

He played a young...

- In the audition? What do you... - Yeah.

It's so... It seems wild to me that you would ask something like that.

- Wild? - That we'd spend this much time

on this subject.

He was younger than your father. That's what it boiled down to.

I'll sleep in the lab.

Under no circumstance should Miss Macbeth be allowed down there.

When she comes back from the powder room,

you tell her you'd love to chat but your mother is dying.

My mother is dying.

I think Miss Macbeth likes me.

Yes. Just try to act like me when she returns, would you?

- I'm not an actor. - What?

You say you're not an actor?

If you did say that, I...

I think I'd agree with you.

Although...

acting may not be what you think it is.

An actor...

shouldn't broadcast his emotions.

Be they anger, sadness, joy, fear, even grief.

A performer who showcases his talent

is no better than a rich man boasting about his billfold.

An actor shouldn't glide across the stage more gracefully than a common man,

nor should he play the clown, a studied simplicity in every gesture.

- I... I can't tell what to... - Beware of the trap of accents.

Like the gangster,

with all these "deez" and "dems" and "donz" that you wonder...

...why he hasn't spent

some of his ill-gotten gains on speech therapy, huh?

Or the worst.

The baby,

the method actor,

who travels all the way back to infancy

in search of sense memories.

He rocks in the fetal position,

beckoning the audience to nurse him.

What's left, you ask.

Well...

everything.

In that sliver of authenticity,

a universe you shall find.

And that's how I got into Juilliard!

But I pursued science instead.

- You were my father's agent. - David, it was 50 years ago.

Why now? What's the emergency?

Why not now?

I have unanswered questions, all right?

Well, you shouldn't be digging in the dirt like this.

You're gonna get dirt under your fingernails.

- I don't mind dirt under my nails. - Mmm.

They'd have to... They'd have to remove your nails.

That could be torture.

Uh, you're talking about removing my fingernails?

Hmm.

What are you doing? Are you threatening me?

No! No, no, no. Not near the gun.

I'm not curious about the gun.