In 2024, Zelda Williams made her feature directorial debut with Lisa Frankenstein, written and produced by Diablo Cody. Cody says the film was written to be R-Rated and was heavily edited to get down to a PG-13.
Both she and Williams are lobbying to have the “superior” R-Rated cut released.
Lisa Frankenstein is a horror-comedy taking place in 1989. It is a coming-of-age story about a misunderstood teenager (Kathryn Newton) and her crush, a handsome corpse (Cole Sprouse). After a set of playfully horrific circumstances brings him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness… and a few missing body parts along the way.
The film also stars Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest, and Carla Gugino.
R-Rated Footage?
Both Cody and fellow producer Mason Novick confirmed that R-Rated scenes were initially shot but later cut.
“Of every film that I’ve worked on that’s been defanged from R to PG-13 – it breaks my heart every time – Lisa Frankenstein is the one where the R-rated version would have been superior,” she told The Boo Crew podcast. “I’m being totally honest. I wrote it as an R-rated movie. If I had known that it was definitely going to be PG-13, I would’ve written it as a PG-13 movie as opposed to writing an R-rated movie and having to change the creative to accommodate the writing.”
And Williams is on board as well.
“Endlessly thankful to all the Lisa Frankenfamily out there,” she posted to a now-deleted Instagram story last year. “It’s been lovely to meet you, to see your tattoos and paintings, and to hear your stories about what our weird, wacky movie means to you. Please know it means the world to me! And who knows, maybe one day we will even be able to resurrect an unrated version for you all.”
Like most things in entertainment, it all depends on fan demand. So if you want the original cut of Lisa Frankenstein, speak up. We know we are.
