Pedro Almodóvar Questions Jacob Elordi’s Range: “Sex Symbol or Respected Actor?”

Last year, Jacob Elordi told The Los Angeles Times that he loved Pedro Almodóvar, and a few months later he said he would love to make a film in Spanish.

In a new interview on the La Pija y la Quinqui podcast (via HuffPost), Almodóvar was asked about Elordi’s comments and whether he would cast him in one of his films. This was not the answer we expected.

Almodóvar believes that Elordi will “without doubt” become a big star, but he is still unsure whether the actor is primarily a sex symbol or a truly great actor.

Did he really say that? I think Jacob Elordi is going to be a big star—no doubt about that. But lately I’ve been wondering whether he’s just a sex symbol or a respected actor […] I need to see him in something that asks more of him, at least.

He argued that recent Elordi projects like “Wuthering Heights” and “Frankenstein” don’t really help answer that question, because he believes those films are weak and overly stylized, and that the roles themselves don’t demand much range from the actor.

It’s just that “Wuthering Heights” is very bad. And it’s not Jacob Elordi’s or Margot Robbie’s fault—they do what they can. It’s not even kitsch. What’s happening with Frankenstein adaptations is that they’ve become these filthy creatures, made from pieces of other bodies—it’s always been a horror story. But now they’ve added a kind of sexualised imagery to it; they’ve made the monster attractive. He has to speak in that deep, low voice, and that’s much easier than using a more expressive range. So, in that sense, “Frankenstein” is very convenient for an actor.

Almodóvar’s main point still stands. Elordi hasn’t yet been tested in many highly demanding, emotionally wide-ranging roles. It’s fair in the sense that much of Elordi’s visibility has come from stylized projects where charisma and presence matter as much as range. However, his career is still relatively early, and I personally see Almodóvar’s comment more as a challenge for the actor to step up his game.

Elordi’s stock has certainly risen in recent years thanks to “Euphoria,” “Priscilla,” “Saltburn,” and “Frankenstein.” Almodóvar is not necessarily wrong in his assessment, though I’m still not entirely sure how Elordi ended up nominated for his performance in “Frankenstein,” but that’s a whole other story.