Jacob Elordi has opened up about the “moments of great anguish” he experienced while preparing for his role in Frankenstein. The 28-year-old actor revealed that he was required to lose a significant amount of weight in a short period to take on the part in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming adaptation, and that the process left him physically and mentally drained. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, he admitted: “My brain was kind of all over the place. I had these moments of great anguish at around 3 a.m. I’d wake and my body was in such pain. And I just realised that it was a blessing with Frankenstein coming up, because I could articulate these feelings, this suffering.”
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Elordi joined the project later in its development but joked that he was “perfectly suited” to the role of Frankenstein’s creature. “Someone had written after my first film, ‘The only thing this plank of wood could play is Frankenstein’s Creature. Get him off my screen!’” he recalled with amusement. Despite the comment, the Australian actor said he felt an almost fated connection to the character. “It came from some other place,” he explained. “It felt like a growth, like a cancer in my stomach that told me that I had to play this thing. I’ve heard stories like that from other actors, and when you hear them, you kind of go, ‘Sure, you were meant to play this thing.’ But I really feel like I was.”
The Euphoria star also reflected on the challenges he faced earlier in his career, revealing that he once slept in his car while struggling to find acting work. Before being cast in the hit HBO series, Elordi was on the verge of running out of money. “I wasn’t booking jobs. I think I had maybe $400 or $800 left in my bank account, and Euphoria was my last audition before I went home for a little while to make some money and recuperate,” he told GQ.
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Elordi explained that during that period, his car became his makeshift home, “stacked with boxes and coat hangers and things”. His breakthrough role as Nate Jacobs in Euphoria not only changed his career but also helped him find stability after years of uncertainty. Now, as he prepares to bring Frankenstein’s monster to life under del Toro’s direction, Elordi says he’s channelling both his past struggles and newfound discipline into a role he feels “was meant” for him.
