Jacob Elordi: Working with Guillermo del Toro was a 'really profound experience' for ‘Frankenstein’ actor
In Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein — the latest adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic novel of the same name — Jacob Elordi appears in a way we have not seen before. The actor gets one of the scariest intro sequences in the history of cinema.
A creature-feature aficionado, del Toro immerses Elordi in layers of grotesque makeup to do justice to Shelley’s vision of the iconic monster in her much-celebrated novel, which has been adapted for the screen multiple times, in different languages, formats, and genres, in the form of official and unofficial interpretations.
In an interaction with Netflix, Elordi calls working on the film with Guillermo a "really profound experience," and says that there was no question of thinking twice before committing to the project. "When Guillermo del Toro asks you to make a movie, there’s no decision-making process. It’s just, 'Yes,'” he added.
The Australian actor, known for HBO's Euphoria and the Elvis Presley story Priscilla, got almost a month to prepare for the part. "There’s a point where you have to leave the world behind. You have to close all the doors to your house emotionally. You close your ears off and close your eyes off and change the way that you see things — all the regular things that you would do in a day, like eating and showering. They have to take on a new life to be able to shift into something else," he told Netflix.
Elordi credits Mike Hill for the creature’s remarkable design. The latter, it happens, is a fan of the book, too.
"I wanted to be as calm and as respectful of his process as I could be,” said the Saltburn actor. “The original drawings Mike did for this makeup are incredible — breathtaking. My eyes well up when I see his drawings — of the anatomy of a recomposed human being. He’s genuinely one of the finest artists I’ve ever encountered."
As for the creature’s voice, the actor explains the process thus: "The dentures I wore told me exactly what his voice was. I would go into my room and start doing these throat chants in the mirror. Then I put the teeth in, and the Creature just started speaking. There’s a composition of lots of different voices. He learns language from the blind man [played by David Bradley]. It's hard to articulate a singular thing."
Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein, the scientist who creates The Creature. Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Lars Mikkelsen, and Charles Dance occupy the other integral roles.
Frankenstein sees Guillermo reuniting with cinematographer Dan Laustsen, with whom the Oscar-winning filmmaker worked in Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water, and Nightmare Alley.
Laustsen is also known for his work in the last three John Wick movies starring Keanu Reeves.
Before its Netflix premiere, Frankenstein had a limited theatrical engagement.
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