Maggie Gyllenhaal took the veil off The Bride in Las Vegas.

The filmmaker, joined by title star Jessie Buckley, took to the Colosseum stage inside Caesars Palace on Tuesday afternoon during Warner Bros. studio presentation to offer the first look at her anticipated sophomore feature. They were joined by WB bosses Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy.

The Bride finds Gyllenhaal putting her own spin on Mary Shelleys story, setting it in 1930s Chicago and following a lonesome Frankensteins monster who enlists the help of Dr. Euphronios to create a companion for himself. They revive a murdered woman, creating the titular bride. Buckley stars opposite Christian Bale, Penelope Cruz, Annette Bening, John Magaro and Julianne Hough. Its also a bit of a family affair as Gyllenhaal cast her younger brother, Jake Gyllenhaal, and husband Peter Sarsgaard. Gyllenhaal said that after her directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, she was looking for a follow-up that was pop and big and radical at the same time. Then she went to a party where she encountered a man with a tattoo of the bride of Frankenstein on his arm. It hooked me and I went home and watched the movie, she continued. The bride is in the movie for about three minutes, and she doesnt speak which could not be more different than our bride.

So Gyllenhaal conceived of a bride who is beyond Frankensteins wildest imagination, a mate who doesnt really fit in a box. She added that shes also interested in monsters. All of us have a little aspect of something monstrous in us, which is why we love monster movies, probably, the filmmaker said. You can run from it your entire life, or you can shake hands with it.

As for Buckley, she said when she read Gyllenhaals script, it felt as if she were being plugged into an electrical current. It was so wild and so unique. I love her, shes an amazing, amazing woman. She couldve asked me to be a sheep, and I wouldve said yes.

Asked to describe The Brides relationship with Frankenstein, Buckley called it the punkest love thats ever existed with traces of Bonnie and Clyde and Wild at Heart. Our one has some petrol in its skin and were holding a match.

Gyllenhaal noted that those who have seen the film report back that they havent really seen anything like it before. Gyllenhaal, who also spoke about shooting the film for IMAX, enthusiastically addressed theater owners during her comments. This is a cinematic movie, he said. Frankenstein is a lover of movies in our movie. His closest relationship before The Bride is with a movie star. I wanted to make this punk monstrous love story in a classic cinematic way that really respected these characters.

She then introduced the footage that showed scenes of a burial followed by Buckleys character being revived by the monster, who says in a voiceover, Theres nothing left to do now than live. The following scenes show the pair making their way through various locations and encountering a cast of characters that show an epic journey through vivid landscapes. In a scene reminiscent of Joker and Harley Quinn, Frankenstein is seen violently murdering someone in a street. Across the screen flashed a tagline, Here Comes the Mother Fucking Bride. To close it out, Buckleys bride is seen asking, Whats my name? I cant remember.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Maggie Gyllenhaal (@mgyllenhaal)

Warner Bros. also recently confirmed that it would be pushing the release date on The Bride from Sept. 26, 2025, to March 6, 2026. Gyllenhaal made her directorial debut on Netflixs The Lost Daughter after a long career in front of the camera.

CinemaCon, the annual gathering of cinema owners and Hollywood studios, is hosted in Las Vegas by the newly rebranded Cinema United, which for decades was known as the National Association of Theatre Owners. This years edition runs from March 31 to April 3.