For Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi Covered Up to Reveal His True Self

0:01Hey, Little Gold Men listeners, especially the ones across the pond. We're recording a Little Gold Men episode live in London on the evening of February 19th with the cast of Sentimental Value. We've got a select number of tickets to give out to our listeners. So if you'd like to join the fun, email us at littlegoldmen at vf.com. We hope to see you there.

0:30Hello and welcome to Little Gold Men, Vanity Fair's podcast for film, TV, and awards lovers. I'm Rebecca Ford. My guest today is Jacob Elordi, who delivers one of the year's most stunning performances as the creature in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. As he told me in this interview, it was a role that required him to completely rethink the way he interacts with the world. We chatted about the sacred collaborative space Guillermo del Toro fostered for this project, returning to euphoria after spending so much time in the film world, and why he has no patience for AI. He also taught me a very handy Aussie phrase that I'm definitely going to be using from now on.

1:09Let's dive in. Jacob, thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you for having me. So from what I've read, there was another actor attached to this role, but he dropped out and you came in with only about nine weeks before production. Did that feel like a fast turnaround for you? Were you worried about it at the time? Well, I was in the middle of production on a show by Justin Kerzel called The Narrow Road to the Deep North. And it was quite an intense sort of thing. So they called me in the middle of that with nine weeks. And then I still had five weeks to go on that. So I ended up having about four weeks to seriously sit down and consider everything at home where I like to sit and think up on my hill.

1:49But I had started sort of letting little pieces of the text in and the idea of sort of what we were going to make in while we were shooting with Justin. And I was also very lucky that I had lost a great deal of weight because we were playing prisoners of war. So a lot of my instincts and my physicality were kind of very primal at this point. We were right in the middle of the peak weight loss sort of savage section of the shoot. So a lot of my world was frightening and restless and sleepless. And so I was coming into it sort of already based with the bones of the character in the character that I was playing, if that makes any sense.

2:24Yeah, it definitely does. I actually saw that series and it's also quite a demanding performance. But I see the through line you mentioned now. And so when you had those four weeks, what helped you get into the character? Do you do music, literature, looking at past performances of this creature, even though this is quite different than what's been done before? Well, the first thing, Guillermo sent me about 10 books that were all on a range of sort of different topics. And then I would start to get movie recommendations and things like that. Or he'd send me a clip from a silent film, which sort of helped me understand less specifically what I was going to do and more, oh, this is the kind of thing that we're doing.

3:02This is a collaborative filmmaker. This is somebody who wants to engage in a conversation sort of before, during and after the film. And I couldn't really afford to be intellectual about it to begin because I was shooting something else. I didn't want the two to sort of bleed. I really just worked in collage. I had this book and I would just all kinds of images and references and things in colours and in this book I learnt to write in my left hand, which is sort of a disconnect for me because I'm right-handed, which started to help me with understanding the kind of uncomfortability of the physicality.

3:36And then when it really sort of happened, though, was when I left the show I was working on and I went home. I live in the woods alone and it's quite a beautiful sort of space. And everything sort of calmed and slowed down and those four weeks ended up feeling like 20 weeks. I just sort of tried to open up. The way I looked at the world, I tried to sort of experience that like the way the wind fell on my face when I was cold and I'd consider what cold meant to me with all of my life experiences and then thought about what cold would mean to somebody who's made of different parts and has no sort of previous life experience.

4:13And just all these little things started informing the characters to the point where my whole world sort of started to exist in a way that was sort of part myself and part this character, which is sort of what is on screen, I think, at the end. It's like a fusion of what's in the text with very much like my experience of the world. That's so interesting. One of the things I loved about this movie is when the creature is first, quote-unquote, born is like he reminds me of my toddler. Like you really see him growing into a person in a way I thought was so beautifully done and very relatable as a mom.

4:50Yeah, it was important. It was important. to sort of track his development because there is three stages really in the screenplay. And one of the books that Guillermo gave me was this book on child development. And then from that I read that and then started watching my nieces and then started watching my dog and picking up little bits and pieces and, you know, seeing what they lead with or what takes their, you know, when a baby sees fire, it reaches for it. What part of the body leads when a baby sees something and wants the immediacy of that. And then the idea of putting the prosthetics on sort of allows you to go into that state and still be fully believable without looking like you're infantilizing this giant sort of thing.

5:37So what was it like the first time you saw yourself in the full makeup and prosthetics? I was buzzing with excitement because that was also the point in which I was going to learn whether I was going to be unrecognizable, which was sort of a fear that I had in the film because I only wanted to play the version that was a character, not just sort of like a symbol or just a creature. But also I should have known that Guillermo del Toro wasn't going to make that version of the film but it really was the first time I'd seen ideas of the make-up and I'd seen it on a bust. But you still don't know what that's going to look like when it sort of fuses with your face because they were working with pieces that had already been made for another actor and the lot was kind of in the air and I did have this feeling that, well, what if it doesn't fit on my chin the way that they want it to and what if it doesn't have this look?

6:29There was still like, in my head, it was still a very real thing that I might not end up getting to be in the movie. When it went on, it did feel like there was this perfect fusion. I mean, you're talking about that fear, but when I watch it, I can tell it's you and it's an actor and a performance, but was it at all freeing to sort of not have to consider your looks as someone who has been described as a heartthrob and had that sort of label placed on them before? Did this feel freeing in any way? I suppose people's perception of me or the labels that are created about me is kind of what the movie is about in a lot of ways.

7:06I don't identify with, nor do I consider anyone's sort of opinion of me personally, but especially physically. I've acted with the same vigor and kind of passion and intensity since I was 14 years old. So this is really, to me, playing it as just an extension of this craft that I've worked on and worshipped for such a long time. So I suppose people's perceptions don't really... I'd be kind of screwed if I listened to what people had to say about my appearance when I'm trying to be an actor, which the whole sort of purpose of that is to immerse yourself in a different skin and hopefully disappear and be believable as something other.

7:53Yeah. You know? This is just the most literal sort of version of that, I guess. Yeah, I suppose maybe it takes a mask sometimes for people to see the truth of something as well.

8:07More with Jacob Elordi after this quick break.

8:21Come see Critics at Large live. On February 19th, we're going to be at the 92nd Street Y in New York City for a conversation about Wuthering Heights. There's a new adaptation coming up starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, and we will certainly be getting into that. but we'll also do what we, humbly I'll say, what we do best. Returning to the text, we're going to go deep on the gothic and Emily Bronte. Join me, Vincent Cunningham, and my co-hosts, Alex Schwartz and Nomi Frye, for the discussion. And crucially, if you buy a VIP ticket, you'll join us for an after party too. Go to 92ny.org for more information.

9:04That's 92ny.org. Hope to see you there. This episode is brought to you by MUBI, the global film company that champions great cinema. From iconic directors to emerging auteurs, there's always something new to discover. With MUBI, each and every film is hand-selected so you can explore the best of cinema. Die My Love is now streaming on MUBI in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and many other countries. A visceral and uncompromising portrait of a woman engulfed by love and madness, Die My Love is anchored by a ferocious Golden Globe-nominated performance from Jennifer Lawrence and co-stars Robert Pattinson.

9:48Lynne Ramsey marks her eagerly awaited return with this fearless new cinematic vision that charts the complexity of love and how it can change and transform over time. To stream the best of cinema, you can try MUBI free for 30 days at MUBI.com slash LittleGoldMen. That's M-U-B-I dot com slash LittleGoldMen for a whole month of great cinema for free.

10:18Welcome back to Little Gold Men from Vanity Fair. Here's more of my interview with Jacob Elordi, who stars as the creature in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. Before hitting Netflix, the film screened in select theaters. It was an experience that Jacob didn't want to miss, so he snuck into a screening right here in Los Angeles. Well, Frankenstein was playing in IMAX, and I hadn't been to an IMAX screening of the film yet. And if you can, you should see this film in IMAX. And it was also in a Chinese theater, so to walk in over the handprints and think about, you know, Clark Gable sat in there or Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn or Gary Oldman and then to realize the film that I'm lucky enough to be a part of is playing on that giant screen.

11:04Looking up at the detail in the cinema of that sort of Chinese ceiling, that wooden ceiling that's in there and then seeing Frankenstein's creature come over the snow mound. I wasn't going to miss that just as a consumer. Yeah. It's sort of the perfect setting to see it because Guillermo's films are so beautiful, especially this I think. Yeah, yeah. And it is tough too because you do see I see things sometimes people sort of praising the film and if it's the only way you can see it that's totally, totally fine but when you see the film being watched on an iPhone in someone's bedsheets it's like oh but there's so much happening in that frame.

11:38There's so much. You put so much into that frame and I promise you you'll love it if you can just if you have the means to expand that screen try your best, you know. Right. I mean Guillermo of course is known for his monster movies. That's why I'm such a huge fan of him. And obviously he's talked about how he's wanted to make this movie essentially his whole life. But how do you see his version of Frankenstein sort of fitting into the lineage of either his movies or monster movies in general? Well, I mean, he talks a lot about how he's been rehearsing this movie since he made Kronos. All his films to me are perfect in their own kind of way.

12:16And there's a few in there that are perfect, like perfect movies. and this to me is his masterpiece. And the craziest thing is I know he still has like, he still has so many more in him that are perfect. But this film is so deeply personal and the more that I know him and the more I spend time with him, the more I learn about the film in hindsight. And in the world of monsters, I don't think you could get a more empathetic or understanding lens put on a creature than from Guillermo del Toro, from somebody who has associated with them and believed he believed in this creature when he was younger as jesus so you're getting full-blown spirituality in this film which is there's a few people that can capture spirituality like that cinematically and i think he's done that in this film and to have that done through a monster i think it's uh this film is an imperative part of monster movie history i think on guillermo's part not on not on you know yeah because i mean it's hard to talk about because i'm it but i'm just such a big fan at the same time you know yeah but it is a lot of pressure for you i mean did he tell you that sort of jesus concept and how big this was for him before you shot like that's a lot of pressure to put on you to be not to put on you but that you must have been aware of but you know what it was though it was really an invitation to take it as seriously as i had felt movies were my whole life because people love to say you know it's just movies not life or death And I understand that.

13:45I'm sensible in many ways. But it is life or death to me. And I had this man telling me, this is life and death. This is everything. This is an examination of all of it. This is your time here. This is Milton asking God why. This is the time to be human and ask these questions for real. Because when we first spoke, he called me and he said, this prosthetics process, it's not makeup. It's not paint. He said, this is the sacrament. It's holy. And it is the invitation, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for you to begin a metamorphosis before you step onto set. And when he said that, that's like somebody giving you the golden ticket.

14:25That's somebody saying, hey, here's permission to go all the way because I'm taking this as serious as you are. Or a challenge of take this as seriously as I take this. And there's something really, for me, there's something so incredible about that experience. Right, he opens it up for you to go there and be that vulnerable, because you know he's serious about it. That's amazing. Between Frankenstein and I know you have Withering Heights coming next year, you've been tackling two giants of literature in a short amount of time. But I'm curious how that process worked from doing something like that versus something more contemporary.

15:06Thematically, in the characters, there are these archetypes that have been around for hundreds of years now. And so there is so much to explore in terms of human nature and ideas of love from the romantics. And the spirit they were writing with in that period is so different to the spirit that's sort of floating around in our world now. So it's nice to have, again, an invitation to depart and to go and consider someone who sat under a tree and fawned over someone for six weeks until they died. Do you know what I mean? There is something really wonderful about that. But I think more than that for me, the experience comes from the filmmakers.

15:40And Guillermo and Emerald are two people that I believe have studied sort of that period so meticulously and studied being alive and they have a specific point of expression that they're trying to articulate through their movies. So for me, the joy is less in the literary adaptation or the idea of these great big characters and more I get to explore these worlds with these people who I am in awe of in their creativity and in the way that they think and the way that they view the world. So for me, in terms of an artistic collaboration, that's why I like work with them, not so much the specific material, you know?

16:20Yeah. And you've worked with Emerald Fennell twice now and I worked with Sofia Coppola and Priscilla. And I know this is not a black and white answer, but I do note that you are working with female filmmakers while there still is such a disparity between who gets to tell stories. Is it at all either in your subconscious or intentional to make sure you're working with a variety of filmmakers and storytellers? No, because to me, they're filmmakers. they're just, I've always it's like you don't say like a bankress, like a you know what I mean? I think that's more maybe the move of like somebody that runs a production company or a producer to be conscious of who they're infesting their time in to make movies but for me, I just have the opportunity to work I mean when you see their, Sophia Coppola when you see a still of hers you're immediately drawn to it a still from any of her films you see a steal from any of her films you're immediately drawn to it that's a filmmaker so for me it's more just I want to work with the people whose movies I love more with Jacob Elordi after this quick break

17:43I'm Shilpa Oskokovic and I'm Jazzy Sefcek and we're the hosts of the Bon Appetit Bake Club podcast Bake Club is Bon Appetit's community of confident, curious bakers. Jessie and I love to bake. Some might even call us obsessive. And we love to talk about all the hows and whys and what didn't work that come with it. Every month, we publish a recipe on BonAppetit.com that introduces a baking concept we think you should know. Then you'll bake, send us any questions you have. And we'll get together here on the podcast to talk about the recipe. So consider this your official invitation. Come join the BA Bake Club.

18:17New episodes on the first Tuesday of every month, wherever you get your podcasts. Happy baking.

18:30Welcome back to Little Gold Men from Vanity Fair. Here's the rest of my conversation with Jacob Elordi, who recently wrapped the much-anticipated season three of Euphoria. After he had such a long hiatus and the opportunity to explore many new characters in movies, I was curious if returning to set as Nate felt different this time around. I had so much fun shooting the show and it felt like I was playing a completely different character again because so much time has passed. It was also exciting to come back because I used to, on the first season of that show, bug Sam about how badly I wanted to make movies and how much I love movies.

19:08And I can't believe we're doing TV, man. Like, we're going to be, you know, movies, movies, movies, movies. And I remember being like, okay, great. Now it's quite nice. He's like, sure, sure, Diego. He was the same way. He was like, I can't wait because that man has seen every movie that's ever been made. And to be able to go back and come back with my, I felt like the prodigal son returning with my bags full of stories of the movies I'd made. I was like, Father, look. Look what I have gathered. So it was actually really cool to then be able to sit down and talk to him about Ridley Scott, talk to him about Paul Schrader.

19:42in the first season I was just, oh, you've met, you know these guys. You know, I would have these conversations with them and to be able to say, to be able to have gone down my own path for a little while and come back and have the same conversations. But with the experience behind them, it was really, really quite beautiful to me. That's cool. Yeah, it's been exciting to watch so much of that cast, you know, branch out and do other work. Maud just directed a movie called Poetic License. Yeah, I saw it. Yeah, it was great. I think it is so, so good. Yeah, she's a great storyteller. Yeah. It's so funny.

20:17Is it possible for Nate to have redemption? Or is that even something you'd hope for that character? Did you watch Frankenstein? I know. I mean, they're in conversation, I would say. Yeah, it's possible for everybody to have redemption. And I think the biggest part, Guillermo said something great one time. He's like, the biggest and the hardest step is the conversation. The conversation doesn't need to yield a result, but you have to have the conversation. It's the only way you can move toward redemption. And we have an inability now, it seems, to have the conversation. But I would like to believe that there's redemption for everybody.

20:51And if not redemption, possible understanding. Sort of widening the lens to your career, with the filmmakers you've been working with now, I'm curious if you can look back to the turning point. As you're saying, when you were on Euphoria, you were dying to work with these sorts of filmmakers and make these kinds of movies. Was it that show that really... By the way, working on Euphoria was working with one of those kinds of... Of course, of course. Levinson is an absolute visionary. I mean, no one has made a television show like that, and nor will they again. I mean, because it's also so heavily influenced by cinema.

21:25It's cinematic, you know. But was that the turning point? I suppose so. But I mean, I had gotten the opportunity to work with Adrian Lyne at the same time as making Euphoria. So I've always been very lucky in the sort of sets that I've found myself on. But I felt a noticeable change. And whether it was just personally, because I finally felt like I was being given the work that gave me the opportunity to do the sort of prep work that I wanted to do to play the characters that I'd wanted to play for a really long time, probably the change felt like from Sophia. I think with Sofia Coppola there was, for me, a noticeable sort of shift in perception.

22:10But it kind of also taught me a little bit about the world as well because Euphoria alone is full of excellent performances from the cast, like really, really detailed work. But then it gets lost in this kind of like social lens because of the popularity of something. There's this idea I think we have, and we have it in Australia, tall poppy syndrome. but when something is so big and so sort of like universally acclaimed, it does lose some of its punch, you know, just the way that it's perceived, I think, or it's uncool to like it because so many people like it. But the truth is like the work in that show from everybody is so detailed and for me I find it really, really moving.

22:52So it's interesting to see what makes people's heads turn or makes people think that somebody is talented or not talented. Yeah. Tall poppy syndrome. Yeah. I'm going to remember that. When one poppy grows taller than the rest of the poppies in the field, then you need to cut it down. Right. Interesting. A conversation I've been having a lot around town, and your fearless leader, Guillermo del Toro, has been talking about it a lot, is AI. And Guillermo pretty openly said that he would never consider using that. So I'm curious for you as an actor, what's your current perspective on how it may affect your industry moving forward?

23:32As a human being, I have no tolerance for it, nor the ever encroaching constant conversation that we keep having about it. Even being asked about it to talk about the devil, I just think there's so much to talk about. And I just have no interest in it at all because it's so fucking boring. I'm going to say I agree with you. You know what I mean? That is so fucking boring. That's ones and zeros. That's numbers. It's digital. I can't focus on it. It bores me personally. If it's your interest, go nuts in your garage, play around, build a robot. I don't know. But as far as I'm concerned, I would much rather kiss on the beach and read a novel and be sunburned.

24:16Have a human experience. Yeah, I get it. There's so much going on. I'm looking in my yard right now and there's so much happening. that I can't even begin to think about some engineered reality. It's so fucking boring. Well, on that subject then, you know, at Vaynery Fair, we do love to ask what is the thing outside of Hollywood and filmmaking that really inspires you, that like really is your passion or gets you riled up these days in a good way? It's Hollywood and filmmaking. Oh, that's the cheat answer. No, I mean, I am so in love with art and particularly when it's done through storytelling.

24:58I'm moved by everything, photographs, paintings, music, discovering new music, sharing an interest with somebody. You know, when I go home and someone, I walk past a 60-year-old man on the beach and he says, G'day, and I get a flutter in my stomach because I'm home. and just all these things, you know. That's what I mean when I say there's so much out there. We tend to slip into this thing at the moment that everything's damned and what are we going to do about this and what are we going to do about that. Everyone has done that every single, like, ever. Period of history, yeah. Everyone has done that, A.

25:38B, if this is like the last little moment, it's still so painfully beautiful. There's so much. We still have books being published. We can still go have a coffee. You can still hug your friend. I can still pat my dog. There's still so much to care about and so much to love. Well, I think we have to end it there because it's a really beautiful note to end it on. And Jacob, I really appreciate you joining me today. Thank you so much. Thanks, Rebecca. I appreciate your time.