Kristina Roberts
“My body was in such pain…” — these are the words actor Jacob Elordi used to describe his intense preparation for his role in Frankenstein, directed by the famous filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. The young star, known for his performances in Euphoria and The Kissing Booth, revealed how his physical and emotional pain from an earlier project became the key to shaping one of his most challenging roles yet.
In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Elordi spoke honestly about the difficulties he faced while filming Prime Video’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, a World War II miniseries that required him to lose a significant amount of weight and go through emotionally draining scenes. The actor said that during this time, he pushed his body and mind to their absolute limits. “My brain was kind of all over the place,” he recalled. “I had these moments of great anguish at around 3 a.m. I’d wake, and my body was in such pain.”
This period of deep exhaustion and confusion, instead of breaking him, became a strange form of preparation for his next project — Frankenstein. Elordi said he realized that all his suffering and physical weakness were not just burdens but tools he could use to bring life to the creature in Guillermo del Toro’s film. “I just realized that it was a blessing with Frankenstein coming up, because I could articulate these feelings, this suffering,” he explained.
Elordi’s role as Frankenstein’s creature is unlike anything he has done before. It is a story about loneliness, identity, and the pain of existence — emotions that Elordi said he could deeply connect to during that phase of his life. He explained that both he and the monster were dealing with questions about meaning, belonging, and purpose. “At that time in my life, I really wanted to hide,” he said softly. “I really wanted to go away for a while. I was desperate to find some kind of normalcy and rebuild the way that I acted and how I approached making movies.”
These words reflect a side of Elordi that fans rarely see — a young actor trying to understand himself amid fame, pressure, and constant work. Behind the glamour of Hollywood, he faced moments of doubt and loneliness. Preparing for Frankenstein became more than just acting; it became a journey of self-discovery. The monster in the story, misunderstood and abandoned, became a mirror to Elordi’s own emotions at the time.
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is said to be a dark and emotional retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic novel. The story is about a scientist who creates life, only to be horrified by his creation. The creature, though made from different human parts, feels deep emotions — sadness, confusion, and a desperate need to be accepted. To play such a complex character, an actor needs to tap into raw human feelings. And for Elordi, his real-life pain became the bridge to understanding the creature’s soul.
The months he spent filming The Narrow Road to the Deep North took a toll on his health. The extreme weight loss and mental strain pushed him into a space where he questioned his limits. But instead of resisting it, Elordi decided to embrace it. He began to see beauty in his exhaustion — something he could use for his next role. It was as if his struggles were preparing him to play a character who also experiences deep inner torment.
His statement, “My body was in such pain,” speaks volumes about how far he pushed himself for his art. Many actors often talk about method acting — getting into the skin of a character by living through similar experiences. For Elordi, this transformation happened naturally, through hardship and emotional turmoil. The pain he endured wasn’t planned, but it became a form of training that shaped his performance for Frankenstein.
During the interview, Elordi also opened up about a time when he was questioning his purpose as an actor. Fame had come quickly, and with it, expectations grew heavier. He confessed that he felt trapped between who he was as a person and who he was expected to be as a star. Acting had once been his passion, but it started feeling like a burden. It was in this confusing time that Frankenstein came into his life — a story about a creature who also struggles to understand his own existence.
Elordi said that working with Guillermo del Toro, a director known for creating emotional and visually powerful films, gave him a sense of renewal. The filmmaker is known for his sensitivity toward misunderstood characters — from The Shape of Water to Pan’s Labyrinth, his stories often explore pain, beauty, and humanity through monsters. For Elordi, del Toro’s approach helped him rediscover his love for acting.
The actor mentioned that del Toro’s vision for Frankenstein was not just about horror but about empathy. The monster, in his eyes, was not evil — he was lonely. And that loneliness is what Elordi understood best at that time in his life. His exhaustion, emotional vulnerability, and self-doubt helped him give a performance that was both haunting and human.
Elordi’s openness about his struggles makes his story inspiring. It shows that pain, when faced with honesty, can become a source of strength. Instead of running away from it, he turned it into art. Many young people who deal with self-doubt or emotional confusion can relate to this. Sometimes, the very moments we think are breaking us end up shaping us into stronger versions of ourselves.
In a world that often hides pain behind perfect pictures and smiling faces, Elordi’s honesty is refreshing. He shows that even stars have moments of weakness — and that’s okay. What matters is what you do with that pain. For him, it became the foundation of one of the most meaningful roles of his career.
As fans wait for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein to release, they can expect to see not just a monster but a soul — one that has lived through real suffering. Jacob Elordi’s journey from exhaustion to expression proves that true art often comes from the deepest parts of one’s heart.
The young actor summed it up perfectly: “I just realized that it was a blessing with Frankenstein coming up, because I could articulate these feelings, this suffering.” Through his words and his work, Jacob Elordi reminds us that sometimes, our pain has a purpose — and that purpose can lead us to create something truly powerful.
