A hundred years ago, a group including Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks built a Spanish gothic masterpiece – what was then called the United Artists Theatre – in downtown Los Angeles. For the true movie fan, like actor Jacob Elordi, it’s kind of a church.

Visiting the Hollywood landmark, Elordi said, “Yeah, I love going to the movies.”

And he also makes movies that people love. 

In Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Elordi is the Creature, a role that has brought him critical acclaim and, at age 28, an Oscar nomination.

Elordi said the Oscar announcement was definitely a “pinch me” moment: “I was like, you know, just sat there, like, ‘Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up,'” he said. “I’ll probably die and never quite believe that I was in the picture, you know?”

And it still feels like that. “Yeah. And I like it that way.”

In “Frankenstein,” his humanity shines through, even after the makeup team spent hours making him into a monster. Asked how long it took to apply full prosthetics and makeup, Elordi said, “It would depend; when he was freshly minted and newborn, you know, head-to-toe sort of sculpture, it was 10 or 11 hours depending on how much we were moving or whatnot.”

The monster makeup job and the physicality of the role might all seem a bit brutal. But Elordi’s not the kind of guy to let a little adversity get in his way. Asked if there were times he ever thought this career wasn’t for him, he replied, “Never. No, never, never. I’ve been on a single track seriously since 15 years old. And it hasn’t waned yet, which I’ve been really, really happy about!”

Born and raised in Brisbane, Australia, Elordi discovered a love for acting at a young age. A lead role in the 2018 film “The Kissing Booth” put him on the map, and the HBO Max series “Euphoria” put him in the young adult stratosphere.

But he says director Sofia Coppola brought him to the next level when she cast him as The King in “Priscilla.” “I think playing Elvis Presley was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do on screen,” he said. “I felt like I was knocking on the door of Hollywood, like, ‘Please, take me seriously.’ And then they answered and gave it to me – and I was like, ‘Oh, no. No, Sofia Coppola? And she wants me to play Elvis Presley? Okay. Goodness, gracious.’ It couldn’t just be, like, a guy, you know, that the heroine loves, or something. Like, I would’ve loved to just play the guy. But no, it had to be Elvis Presley. That was nice. It was really a big sort of departure from myself, I think.”

And now, with the biggest role of his career so far under his belt, Elordi has an Oscar nod – and one proud momma.

“It was particularly beautiful,” he said, “because – this is very dramatic, but I remember (and any actor that says they haven’t done this is a liar) you would practice your Academy Award speech when you were young, formulating the dream. And I remember being 15 or 16 doing it. And I remember I would tear up, because I thought, you know, ‘Mum’s not gonna get to see this.’ And the day that I got nominated, Mum was with me. And I realized, you know, Mum’s gonna get to see all of this. She’s gonna get to see all of the spoils of her work, all the time and love that she invested, we get to share it now.“

Standing in the historic United Theater on Broadway, Elordi said, “I can’t really believe I’m in Los Angeles talking to you and making movies.”

It still feels, he said, unreal: “Yeah, absolutely, very much so, and probably always will, too. ‘Cause it’s a fantasy job. This is the job that nobody gets to do. And I feel a bit spoiled. I’m honestly a little bit embarrassed sometimes being one of the people that get to do it, you know?

“You’ve earned it,” I said

“For now!” he laughed.

And, for now, he’s making the most of it. Elordi’s new film, “Wuthering Heights,” opposite fellow Australian Margot Robbie, opened Friday to lots of social media buzz. 

To watch a trailer for “Wuthering Heights” click on the video player below:

But like this old theater, Jacob Elordi wants to build something for the ages.

I asked, “It seems to me that you’ve made a conscious decision to kind of not let that part of the industry, the fame machine, affect you, like with your relationship with social media. You’re not really on there a lot.”

“I have no relationship with social media,” Elordi said. “My dream was to be an actor. My dream was to play in the movies. And I’ve been given exactly what I wanted. And I see it exactly how I dreamed it. And I live it how I dreamed it. So, for me that’s about all I can handle!”

To watch a trailer for “Frankenstein” click on the video player below:

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Jacob Elordi (Video)

     
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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Remington Korper. 

      
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