Actor Jacob Elordi, who is awaiting the release of his much-anticipated film Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo Del Toro, had a demanding role as Frankenstein's monster, but despite the amount of work that was drawn from him, he revealed that he didn't feel "tortured" while playing the character.
The 28-year-old actor, known for his work in Saltburn, takes on the role of ‘The Creature’ in Netflix's new take on Mary Shelley's classic novel. He credited director Guillermo del Toro for creating a "safe space" for the cast on set.
"There's a certain point once the prosthetics go on where they kind of demand that you are The Creature and there's a level of focus that needs to come to the role. But at the same time Guillermo created such a free set, I hate when people say this but he really created a safe space, so it was creatively very liberating to be on that set," he told The Hollywood Reporter at the movie's Los Angeles premiere.
Elordi dismissed the idea that a performance has to come from "torture" and "suffering". "It was a little different to that," he said.
Elordi reportedly spent ten hours in make-up with 42 pieces of prosthetics everyday to become the creature.
Del Toro praised his commitment, noting how he "never complained" through the whole process. "He did it all with grace and patience and love. I told him, 'Look, it's like when a priest is getting dressed, there are many layers to the robes and the ceremonial guard. You have to think, this is your Ceremonial Guard. You're invoking the Creature.' And the result is heartbreaking and beautiful. It’s a really naked performance - emotionally so close to innocence that it breaks your heart."
The filmmaker also shared his emotions and expressed his "mixed feelings" now that the film is complete and ready for release. "It's postpartum depression and celebration at the same time. And it's because when the horizon shifts that brutally, like if you dreamed of making the team or dreamed about graduating or whatever and then you do it and you go, 'Ah!', like the elevator dropped, so that's the one thing; the other one is the joy of having achieved, with a great team, a very operatic, beautiful, epic intimate story about fathers and sons and fathers and sons transmitting the pain. And the power of forgiveness and acceptance is not an easy task," he said, underlining the importance of narrating the story from The Creature and his creator Victor Frankenstein's perspectives.
Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein in the film which is set during the Crimean War (1853-1856). Del Toro previously said, "He’s (Victor Frankenstein) working with a bunch of mutilated corpses. This is a resurrected soldier out of a mass grave, basically."
The cast for Frankenstein also includes Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, Lars Mikkelsen, David Bradley, Christian Convery, Charles Dance, and Christoph Waltz.
Apart from this, another film based on Mary Shelley's story, is being made by Maggie Gyllenhaal, which focuses on The Bride of Frankenstein. Jessie Buckley stars as The Bride alongside Christian Bale as Frankenstein's monster. Sebastian Stan is also posed to play the character in a romanian adaptation.