Although Jacob Elordi is reportedly planning on taking his mother Melissa to the Oscars next month, where he is up for best supporting actor, the “Frankenstein” star has revealed his award-nominating turn in Guillermo del Toro’s epic adaptation may not have happened if he had listened to his mom. Because it turns out she tried to dissuade him from ever working with del Toro long before Elordi had even become a professional actor after she clocked the creepy-looking DVD cover for “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
Telling the anecdote, Elordi recalled how as a 10-year-old he would “raid the horror aisle” at DVD rental chain Blockbuster, which is where he first saw a copy of “Pan’s Labryinth,” del Toro’s 2006 feature. “And I saw the tree and the little girl, and I turned it around, the DVD case, and I saw the Pale Man. And I remember thinking, what is that?’”
Although the film was rated “M” for “mature” under the Australian film classification system, Elordi’s mother reluctantly said she would allow him to rent the movie on one condition: “You must never work with this man.” The actor, who was speaking at a BFI IMAX showing of the film alongside del Toro in London, recounted the episode with a laugh, adding: “And lo and behold.”
Del Toro interjected: “It’s good to disobey one’s mother.”
Elordi’s casting was thanks to a twist of fate after the original actor del Toro had in mind for the role pulled out just nine weeks before shooting started. Other than having only four weeks to prepare, Elordi said he was “so excited and so sure when I read the screenplay for the first time, that I had no fear… there’s no other filmmaker on this planet that could make a truly great ‘Frankenstein’ film.”
The film has been in the works for over three decades, dating back to when del Toro first read a copy of Mary Shelley’s iconic tome as an 11-year-old. At the BFI IMAX, del Toro spoke of it in religious terms, explaining: “I just felt this book should exist, because [Frankenstein’s] Creature is me. You know, I identify entirely with the Creature. And I wanted to tell the story the way Mary Shelley wanted to tell it, which is, it becomes every human. It is the origin of humanity and understanding as paradise lost … I know this sounds exaggerated, but it’s my religion. I was born and raised Catholic, and then at 11, I became a Frankensteinist.”
Although the film was made for Netflix, Del Toro was equally evangelical about seeing it on the big screen. “This is the best way to experience any story: collectively, and it is the best way to see movies,” he said, referring to the 85 x 65 ft screen behind him. “I mean, it takes 35,000 iPhones to make that screen… but it also is the communal [aspect]. I think that movies — the way I see them — whether it’s “The Shape of Water” or “Pan’s Labyrinth” or this [“Frankenstein”], you know, they bring a sacramental beauty to them. If we commune with them, we can gain a spiritual tendency for empathy, for humanity, for forgiveness, for something that we need. If we experience it as a community, all the better, because we have never been so connected and so alone as we are right now.”
“So we are the loneliest humans that have ever walked the earth, and yet we never can stop looking at this fucking thing,” he said pointing to his phone before gesturing to the screen behind him and adding: “I urge you to look at that fucking thing. Have a good time.”
English (US) ·