Frankenstien
Jacob Elordi at Newport Film Festival
October 16th, 2025, Jacob Elordi attended the Newport Film Festival to receive the Maverick Award. The Maverick Award is presented to those who have made significant contributions to storytelling within film and television. With topics ranging from a spinal injury that led to a focus on theatre to his recently released film, Frankenstein. We got a deeper look into Elordi’s love for film and acting. Working on films with minimal screen time to becoming an overnight sensation after the Netflix release of The Kissing Booth was hard on him. Going out and getting recognized left and right was hard to deal with. But when a little boy ran up, hugged his leg, and said, “Noah!” He thought, maybe it isn’t that bad. Jacob Elordi expressed his love for film. One continuous story starts to finish. This is why we rarely see Elordi in television shows. Despite being in Euphoria, Jacob has only been in one other TV show, which was a limited series called The Narrow Road to the Deep North. This is because Elordi believes film can teleport you to another reality in a theatre that television can not achieve: “The kind of story delivery system is the cinema is the kind of art I want to be a part of.” (Elordi, 2025) Moving into Jacob Elordi’s film roles. He talked about the audition process for Priscilla (2023) directed by Sofia Coppola. Elordi got an email from Coppola to meet at a hotel in Hollywood to discuss the role. Upon arrival, Jacob got noticed by a group of girls having brunch. As they all squealed and gushed over him, Sofia Coppola knew that he was her Elvis. Sofia Coppola wanted someone who has the same effect Elvis had on younger girls; she saw that was Jacob Elordi. To end off the podcast, Jacob Elordi talked about the recent release of Frankenstein directed by Guillermo del Toro. Elordi told us it took ten to eleven hours just to get all the prosthetics and monster-like features on his body and into character. He also expressed how this movie solidified that this is where he is supposed to be. “I kind of looked around and realized I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Every day since making this movie, Elordi 2025) in this industry I have felt a great calm that I am in the right place.” (Elordi, 2025)
“..Every day since making that movie, in this industry I’ve felt a kind of great calm that I am in the right place. I am meant to be here. And that’s been a really profound feeling and great comfort in an industry where you usually feel quite alien.”
Frankenstein (2025) directed by Guillermo del Torro stars Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, and Oscar Issac. On October 16th, 2025, Jacob Elordi joined the Newport Film Festival to talk about his experience in the film industry while promoting his latest project, Frankenstein. The film industry is a rough, unforgiving, man-eats-man world. Feeling like an alien or creature, if you will. You have a casting director build you up and make you feel fit for a role, just to be denied, left astray, and have the possibility of a call back. Just as Victor left The Creature in the blazing basement after proving himself worthy of learning. The spitfire of hateful comments starts to expand, but now you have finally found one stream of water. One role that flips your whole acting experience around, solidifying your legacy in the film industry. That’s when you find one director that sees your potential and carefully crafts you to be the actor you're about to become.
If you view the film industry as Victor Frankenstein, then Jacob Elordi becomes The Creature. Not in monstrosity, but in origin. He is being shaped from the materials the industry provides: roles, expectations, scrutiny, and admiration. Like the Creature, he steps into the world already seen, already judged, his appearance and presence dissected before he can fully speak for himself. And yet, as the quote suggests, Elordi has found serenity within this creation of Frankenstein 2025. Instead of being devoured by the gaze of audiences and producers, he discovers a strange peace, an understanding that he is “meant to be here,” even if the environment sometimes feels alien. The Creature finds not rage but recognition.
Then there is Guillermo del Toro, inhabiting the role of Elizabeth. He is the embodiment of compassion, humanity, and emotional intelligence within a chaotic ecosystem of creation. Del Toro’s presence in the industry often functions exactly this way: a tender, empathetic counterweight to its sharp edges. He nurtures rather than exploits; he approaches stories with reverence instead of ravenous ambition. As Elizabeth, he becomes the emotional anchor, the reminder that art is not just an assembly of parts but a pulse, a soul. “Jacob’s eyes are so full of humanity, I cast him because of his eyes.” (Guillermo del Torro, 2025). Guillermo del Torro views Jacob Elordi with humanity that actors in the film industry need reassurance in. Where Victor represents the industry’s restless drive to innovate and dominate, Elizabeth represents its heart, the place where artists retreat for comfort and affirmation.
Together, these metaphors can map the strange ecosystem of filmmaking: the industry as a brilliant but overwhelming creator; Together, these metaphors can map the strange ecosystem of filmmaking: the industry as a brilliant but overwhelming creator; Jacob Elordi as the living result, learning to navigate the world formed around him. Guillermo del Toro as the soul that keeps the whole machine from collapsing into cold machinery. Through this lens, the quote becomes more than personal reflection; it becomes a testament to finding humanity within creation, belonging within spectacle, and calm within a world that often feels stitched together from chaos.
