Jacob Elordi Opens Up About His Transformation into Frankenstein Monster at Venice Film Festival: ‘He’s More Me Than I Am’

Jacob Elordi is revealing more about his monstrous transformation for Frankenstein.

The actor, 28, appeared at a press conference alongside the upcoming horror flick’s director, Guillermo del Toro, plus costars including Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz, at the Venice International Film Festival on Saturday, Aug. 30, where they gave some details about the making of the movie.

Touching on his inspiration for making the movie, del Toro, 60, said he’s been “following the creature” since he was a kid, when he first saw Boris Karloff’s portrayal of Frankenstein in the 1931 film.

“I always waited for the movie to be done in the right conditions, both creatively in terms of achieving the scope that it needed for me to make it different, to make it at a scale that you could reconstruct the whole world,” the director said, per Deadline.

Elordi, meanwhile, shared that he fully immersed himself in his role as Frankenstein.

“It was a vessel that I could put every part of myself into. From the moment that I was born to being here with you today, all of it is in that character,” he explained. “And in so many ways, the creature that’s on screen in this movie is the sort of purest form of myself. He’s more me than I am.”

To get fully into character, Elordi underwent 10 hours in the makeup chair on a daily basis, per a Variety profile published on Aug. 20. 

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“There’s so many different layers to the costume,” Elordi told the outlet of transforming into the creature with translucent skin. “When he’s born, he’s wearing nearly nothing. His chest is open and his head is high. Then, as he starts to experience pain, as we do as a teenager, he starts to hunch his shoulders. And as an adult, he closes off.”

But despite the grueling “monster glam” schedule, del Toro said the Euphoria star was a true professional throughout filming. 

“Never once did he come to me and complain,” the director told Variety. “Never once did he come to me and say, ‘I’m tired. I’m hungry. Can I go?’ And he put in 20-hour days.”

Elordi took on the role of the monster opposite Isaac’s Dr. Victor Frankenstein months after Andrew Garfield passed on the role, citing scheduling conflicts.

Back in 2024, Garfield — who was initially announced to take on the part — told Deadline that he was “disappointed” he ultimately wasn’t able to do make it work.

“But meeting Jacob felt really serendipitous so that I could really see and hear that, ‘No, maybe he needed that experience more than me,’ ” Garfield, 42, said at the time. “That was cool, to feel that he had a really spectacular time on that job.”

And as del Toro revealed in a new interview with Variety, Elordi’s “eyes” got him the gig. “I saw Saltburn and I loved his innocence and openness,” the filmmaker said. “He plays the victim of a Tom Ripley-type of character, and I thought he played it with a lot of range.”

“His character was also capable of being high class and cruel. Jacob’s eyes are so full of humanity,” del Toro added to the outlet. “I cast him because of his eyes.”

The Venice International Film Festival runs through Sept. 6, while Frankenstein is in theaters Oct. 17 and on Netflix Nov. 7.