Jacob Elordi Was Cast as Frankenstein After Andrew Garfield Dropped Out

Guillermo del Toro had his eyes set on Jacob Elordi to play “the Creature” in his forthcoming Frankenstein film for a reason.

The Saltburn actor, 28, will be starring in del Toro’s new horror months after Andrew Garfield had passed on the role citing scheduling conflicts. And as del Toro, 60, 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 director 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. “I cast him because of his eyes.”

The revelation comes months before the film arrives in select theaters in October, before making its way to Netflix the following month. News of Elordi taking on the role first broke in January 2024. Later in the year, 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 said at the time. “That was cool, to feel that he had a really spectacular time on that job.”

Frankenstein follows the story of the cursed creation of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, played by Oscar Isaac. Based on the classic Mary Shelley novel, it also stars Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz and more.

Elordi and Isaac also spoke with Variety about the forthcoming film, revealing that Elordi underwent 10 hours in the makeup chair each day to get into character.

“There’s so many different layers to the costume,” Elordi said. “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.”

As Elordi explained, he’d make his way to the makeup trailer at 10 p.m. during days with an early call time, as he took all night to transform into the monster. Actors “throw time away when you make a film like this,” Elordi said. “I stopped having a clock, and I would just wait till the SUV arrived. That meant it was time to go,” he said. “I didn’t do breakfast, lunch or dinner, or think in terms of morning, afternoon, night. It was just one time.”  

The director gave Elordi his props too, telling Variety that the actor didn’t “complain” once when he put in the 20-hour days on set. “It changed me fundamentally — changed the way that I approach performance and the way that I watch movies,” Elordi said of his latest role. 

Frankenstein hits select theaters Oct. 17 and will be released on Netflix on Nov. 7.