Jacob Elordi surprised many awards-prognosticators when he won the Critics Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing Frankenstein’s Monster/Creature. He’s great in that movie, and I think it’s probably pretty cool that Guillermo del Toro’s version is a lot of younger people’s introduction to the story. Just my opinion, but Elordi is quite underrated. Everything I’ve seen him in, he’s surprised me with how good he is and how watchable he is. I also think that viral tweet about “Jacob Elordi thinks he’s Nicole Kidman” is absolutely correct and good for him. I was reminded of that as I read Elordi’s W Magazine Best Performances cover profile:

The inspo for the Creature in Frankenstein: “The first reference that Guillermo del Toro sent me was a picture of Iggy Pop. It’s a classic photo—he looks a bit strung out. I had just played a POW in Justin Kurzel’s show The Narrow Road to the Deep North. I, luckily, in the mirror, looked similar to Iggy Pop.

Shooting Frankenstein for months: “It really was [a long shoot]. I was living in a three-story gothic house in Toronto that had all these window seats. I would curl up in them and watch people walk by. My days were spent on set—I felt very secluded from the outside world. It’s not the kind of role where you can have lunch with your friends. If I saw people, I’m afraid it would’ve been like the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz—I think they would’ve spoken, and I would’ve melted in front of them.

The film that makes him cry: “I watched Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, and there’s a moment when Kate Winslet’s character has an emotional realization. I was sitting there, eating ice cream, and then I just broke down with her character. I cried through that movie, just at the hopeless beauty of us all.

Whether he’s more of a cat or a dog: “Dog feels like a safe answer. Cat feels like I’m endowing myself with great stillness and wisdom.

His first cinematic crushes: “I Dream of Jeannie. And then Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, in the film New York Minute. Both of them collectively. Also Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana. And Hilary Duff, when she’s in Italy in that one movie. There’s a frog in the fountain, and there was a boy on a moped. Whatever age I was when those came out, I remember that.

His favorite reality show: “Is It Cake? The theme of the whole thing is that you just get presented different cakes. Then he asks, “Is it cake?” And you, as an audience, from an unfair distance, have to decide whether it’s cake or it’s not cake. There’s a lot of craftsmanship.

[From W Magazine]

I love that version of Sense & Sensibility – Emma Thompson won an Oscar for the adapted screenplay, and it’s just a really great version of one of Jane Austen’s more complicated books. But I always cry at Emma’s scenes, not Kate Winslet’s! I do like Jacob though, I do think he’s very sensitive and in touch with his feminine side. Of course, we used to think that about Timothee Chalamet too, and he turned into a total bro.

Photo & cover courtesy of W Magazine.