Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse are proving there’s such a thing as a spooky meet cute in their upcoming movie, Lisa Frankenstein.
In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the film, which premieres in theaters on Friday, February 9, Newton’s character Lisa gets an unexpected visit from a familiar creature.
Lisa doesn’t realize that the zombie is actually her crush (Sprouse), so she makes a very dramatic attempt to escape. She runs through her house before hiding on her roof. After that doesn’t work, Lisa accidentally falls off the roof — right onto her reanimated suitor.
Lisa Frankenstein, which is set in the ’80s, follows a teen goth girl named Lisa as she brings to life a handsome corpse from the Victorian era. She decides to build the man of her dreams by using a broken tanning machine to “fix” Sprouse’s character. The couple ultimately fall in love and leave a trail of missing body parts in their wake.
The horror comedy is written by Diablo Cody, who is known for penning scripts for films such as Juno, Jennifer’s Body, Young Adult, Ricki and the Flash and Tully. On the small screen, Cody, 45, created and produced TV shows United States of Tara and One Mississippi. Cody has also made her Broadway debut with the book of the Alanis Morissette musical, Jagged Little Pill.
Lisa Frankenstein also stars Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest and Carla Gugino. The movie marks the directorial debut of Zelda Williams (daughter of late comedian Robin Williams).
Before playing murderous love interests, Newton, 26, and Sprouse, 31, made an impression with their extensive filmographies. Sprouse rose to fame as a child star alongside his twin brother, Dylan Sprouse, in projects such as Big Daddy, Friends, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, The Suite Life on Deck and more.
Sprouse took a break from acting to attend New York University where he specialized in geographical information systems and satellite imaging. He also developed an interest in photography, which he continued to pursue even after he started booking onscreen roles again.
In 2016, Sprouse was cast as Jughead Jones in The CW’s Riverdale. He played the character — based on the Archie Comics — for six years. Sprouse stole the screen in several movies as well including Five Feet Apart and Moonshot.
“It seemed like a really good time,” Sprouse told Us in March 2022 about working with Lana Condor on the space-themed romcom Moonshot. “It’s important to keep happy in what you’re doing, and this looked like a project that just seemed like a lot of fun. It’s an easygoing, easy-to-digest, lighthearted film … and it wasn’t really more complicated than that.”
Newton, meanwhile, is known for starring in TV shows such as Gary Unmarried, Supernatural, Big Little Lies, Halt and Catch Fire and The Society. On the big screen, Newton appeared in Bad Teacher, Paranormal Activity 4, Pokémon Detective Pikachu and Freaky before taking the role of Cassie Lang in Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
“I wanted to be the biggest Marvel superhero of all time. It was always my dream. And I think it’s ironic because Cassie Lang literally grows 40 feet tall and shrinks to the size of an ant. So she might just be the biggest one in the MCU,” Newton shared with Us in February 2023 about joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “That tells you, you can dream big — but you better be specific.”
Lisa Frankenstein premieres in theaters on February 9.
