Frankenstein (1931 film) in "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942) after his apparent murder in the earlier film). This character — a deranged blacksmith whose neck was broken and twisted due to a botched hanging — befriends the monster and later helps Dr. Wolf Frankenstein, leading to the "hunchbacked assistant" called "Igor" commonly associated with "Frankenstein" in popular culture. Frye also appears in later films in the series, such as in "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" (1943). Guillermo del Toro had expressed interest in directing the reboot film for Universal. Del Toro said his "Frankenstein" would be a faithful "Miltonian tragedy", citing Frank Darabont's
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923 film) commitments directing two other pictures for Paramount being extended due to the hurried replacement of their fatally-ill star, Wallace Reid, with Jack Holt, the start date on "Hunchback" was thus pushed back nearly a month in order to accommodate Worsley. Universal announced its intentions to recreate the Notre Dame cathedral and the surrounding streets to the exacting specifications of the period. Universal staff set about creating the "Gallery of Kings", thirty five statues, each ten feet high with intended likeness of the originals. The construction of the sets was estimated to take six months to complete. The screenplay was completed