Jacob Elordi says his Saltburn character is ‘scarier’ than Euphoria’s Nate
Jacob Elordi’s Saltburn character Felix is scarier than Euphoria’s Nate Jacobs. (MGM/Amazon Studios/Max)
If you ever meet two of Jacob Elordi’s characters, Felix from Saltburn and Euphoria‘s Nate, down a dark alley, it’s the former you should be most afraid of. At least, that’s what the star himself thinks.
Elordi stars as Felix Catton in Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, alongside The Banshees of Inisherin’s Barry Keoghan, who plays Oliver Quick – a vulnerable new Oxford University student who is without a friend group.
Eventually, Oliver finds a connection in fellow student Felix, the deceptively charming, egotistical son and heir of the aristocratic Catton family and the the epitome of the British upper-class.
As the pair’s friendship blooms, Oliver finds himself growing increasingly attached to Felix and his family’s high-flying lifestyle. When he joins the Cattons that summer on their sprawling family estate, he’s in for an experience he’ll never forget.
That’s because, according to Elordi, Felix is even more off the rails than his Euphoria character Nate Jacobs – and that’s saying something.
While on the surface Nate is a stereotypical American jock, anyone who gets close to him soon realises that he’s a toxic, twisted and manipulative abuser, hell-bent on causing trouble for fellow pupils at East Highland High School.
But in an interview with British Vogue, Elordi hinted that Felix is “in many ways” actually “scarier”.
While seemingly remaining coy about the character, the Australian actor added that it was difficult getting into Felix’s mind set of not needing “to prove anything” to anyone.
The interview also revealed that Saltburn‘s Catton family are the embodiment of the posh British elite, where political correctness is non-existent.
While it remains to be seen quite how explicitly queer Saltburn will be, the recently released trailer shows Oliver growing ever-more-besotted with Felix and his family.
Saltburn recently acquired an R-rating, meaning anyone under the age of 17 in the US can only watch it with a parent or guardian. Presumbably, that’s because it’s chock-full of “strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, some disturbing violent content and drug use”. In the UK, it’s been classified as a 15.
Now, director Fennel, best known for her Oscar-winning film Promising Young Woman starring Carey Mulligan, has given one of the biggest hints that the thriller will be canonically queer.
“I wanted to make something sexy. I wanted to make something about boys, and I wanted to make something that felt very different to the last thing I made,” she said.
“Really, it’s a film about first love. Generally, because I’m quite facile, I think everything has to do with sex, and I think our fetishisation of the country house and titles is completely sadomasochistic.
“I’m utterly obsessed with how we relate to things that we want and desire, and also kind of hate and know are unattainable: things that we know will never love us back, whether that’s a person or a house or a culture. And yet we can’t f**king stop being desperately attracted to them.”
Saltburn will open the BFI London Film Festival on 4 October, and will be in cinemas in the UK from 17 November and widely across the US from 22 November.
