Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein Cut A 7-Minute Scene Because Of James Cameron

A seven-minute scene was cut from Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein due to James Cameron. Between del Toro’s take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein novel and Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash, both filmmakers released films in 2025 they had passionately worked on for many years.

While on the red carpet for Variety‘s 10 Directors to Watch & Creative Impact Awards, del Toro was asked how he knows when he has the final cut of one of his films. He shared that he does not use test audiences for his work and instead shares it with the “14…16 most brilliant friends I know.” These friends include Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro Iñárritu, Rian Johnson, and Cameron.

Del Toro explained that he and the fellow directors “have an agreement to be brutal.” For Frankenstein, this led to Cameron feeling that one seven-minute sequence was “beautiful,” but still encouraged that it be removed from the film, and it does not appear in the final cut.

Cameron did not need to convince del Toro to make this change, because “when somebody gives me a note that is in that circle, I do it. I don’t argue” and “you can’t invite people that you trust and then untrust them.” Check out del Toro’s full response below: ​

From wanting his friends to be “brutal” and removing the sequence at Cameron’s suggestion, del Toro makes it clear that he is not only receptive to the feedback from these other directors, but wants their honesty in order to make his work the best it can be.

Frankenstein‘s overall positive reviews indicate that this change, and other creative decisions that del Toro made, ultimately paid off. The movie has a “Certified Fresh” 85% score from critics and a “Verified Hot” 94% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Jacob Elordi’s depiction of the Creature has been particularly praised, and he won the Critics Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor.

ScreenRant‘s review by Jack Walters declares that “Guillermo del Toro’s latest is a staggering technical accomplishment that blends inventive camerawork with luscious production design” but that there are “major pacing issues that hold Frankenstein back from being one of del Toro’s best movies.”

The “beautiful” sequence that was cut likely would have included more of the cinematography and production design that received extensive acclaim, while also contributing to the pacing issues that Walters and other critics have cited as one of the movie’s challenges.

At the same time, given the extensive runtime for many of James Cameron’s movies, it is somewhat ironic that he was the one to suggest that the seven-minute scene be cut. Cameron’s latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, clocks in at three hours and 15 minutes. The previous Avatar movies and Titanic have all been around three hours as well, while Frankenstein is two hours and 30 minutes.

As del Toro continues to make more movies after Frankenstein, he will seemingly continue to show his work to Cameron, Cuarón, Iñárritu, and Johnson, who will provide honest feedback as the high-profile filmmakers collaborate to enable their films reach their full potential.