Jacob Elordi is having a moment, but he’d rather not focus on it. The Euphoria star is currently holed up at his secluded home in the woods of Byron Bay’s hinterland in New South Wales, Australia, and even as his fame reaches new heights as the series’ second season continues to trend, his mind is elsewhere.
“[I switch off] from everything, I think, because it’s not my business,” he tells Esquire Middle East.
Elordi was just named the new face of BOSS the Scent, as part of a huge global campaign that has seen his face plastered on billboards across Dubai and beyond. It’s an opportunity he’s taking in stride, and using as an opportunity to help redefine masculinity away from a focus on steely exterior, something more gentle and caring, full of kindness and lightness.
To celebrate, Esquire Middle East had another chat with the Australian star to talk his BOSS collaboration, why he still struggles with confidence, who gives him the best advice, and why he wants to make a Safdie brothers film next.
Read our full Jacob Elordi interview below:
We spoke about Euphoria a few weeks ago before the season started, but congratulations on becoming the face of BOSS The Scent. I think this is incredibly exciting for you.
Thank you, man.
What about working with BOSS excites you the most? What made you want to be a part of this campaign?
I think there’s just so many people that have gone before me that I remember being small and looking up to. So it’s just a great honour to my younger self. It’s this crazy scenario.
When you first met with BOSS, what was it about you that they said fit BOSS’s brand so well? How was it brought to you?
I was just so chuffed to have it come across my desk and super surprised that they even considered me of the ilk of people that they’ve had before them. I don’t know particularly, but I hope I’ve lived up to what they wanted.
No, absolutely. How did you envision your career going? Were you someone who made specific goals for yourself?
I don’t know if I had a hard set of goals, but it’s like breathing for me, it’s like religion.
Do you really just take things as they come?
From when I was 15 years old, I just really liked watching movies and doing plays and doing plays. So I didn’t really have any expectations from it. I just had to and have to do it. I’m just super lucky that it’s worked out somewhat.
When did you really know that it worked out how you imagined?
I still don’t think that I know. Every day, I’m like, ‘you fooled them’.
How do you measure your own success? What do you identify as the road marks that let you know you’re on the right path?
One thing I think I just worked this out recently is that something that means a lot to me is respect from my peers and people who I consider professionals in the field. And every now and then, there’ll be a situation that I’m in where I maybe get… Something like that happens, and that, to me, is like, not a benchmark for success, but it makes me feel like I’m doing the right thing and I’m maybe doing it the right way.
A key part of this campaign is the qualities of a BOSS man. Confidence is a huge part of that. Are you someone who’s always been confident in your abilities, in your sense of yourself?
I think I was quite confident when I was 15 years old, but I’d say that’s become increasingly less so as I get older. I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily an overly-confident person, but I think it just depends.
Why do you say that? Why has it been trending in the other direction?
I don’t know. That’s a good question. I’m not sure. I think when you’re a little younger, you just have a tonne of gusto and pluck and courage. And trying to hang onto that can get difficult as you get older.
Did you always have a sense of your own style?
No, I think I just wore what I liked or what I saw in movies. I would try to emulate it. But I never put too much thought into that, no.
Is that something that’s changed with time?
Yes, it changes every day.
What sorts of styles do you gravitate towards as you grow into yourself as a man?
I think I have a lot of admiration and love for old Hollywood and anywhere from the 20s to the 50s. I like the idea of wearing a suit to set or wearing it to work. I think maybe there’s semblances of that in what I want to wear.
How much do you find that that kind of style transforms the way that you’d see yourself while you’re wearing it? Do you feel like a different person depending on what you’re wearing?
Yes, you dress for the job, or something, right? It prepares you for the day.
What does elegance mean to you?
Elegance… I’m not too sure. There’s something gentle about it, I would say. Something gentle and caring in elegance. I’m not sure what that means, but that’s the first thing that came to mind..
No, that makes sense, as there is continuity in who BOSS works with, as Chris Hemsworth is a tremendously kind and gentle person, while also being truly masculine.
Yeah, he is.
What do you think defines modern masculinity for you?
I don’t know if anything necessarily defines it, but I think what I’d like to see in it is a lightness and a kindness and less of this steely exterior.
Who were the people in your life that you go to for advice? Who helps you understand who you need to be, or is it really something you just have a sense of yourself?
Probably my mom and dad and Eric Dane.
How does Eric help you out? He’s got a great head on his shoulders as well. What’s the best advice that he’s given you?
He’s a legend, and he’s been around the track. And he told me something once, I was getting worried and stressed about something, and, basically, it was something along the lines of, ‘you can’t afford to stress over things or let things outside of you affect you, because that is life or death’. And I never thought of it as intensely as that, but it meant a lot when he said it.
Euphoria has just become a phenomenon in a way that I don’t think even Season 1 prepared us for. It’s really just taken over the entire world. Every single person I know talks about it at least once a day.
Mental.
How do you handle that? Can you even process that sort of phenomenon?
Pretty much as soon as the show came out, I came back to my house in Australia, in the woods, and I’ve just been here the whole time. So I don’t really know. I’m taking it really easy.
Do you purposely switch off from anything?
Yes, from everything, I think, because it’s not my business. Now that it’s out, I feel like the most joy I get and the most I can give it to as well is making it. The finished product, that’s not for me. That’s for everyone else to have.
https://beta.esquireme.com/culture/film-and-tv/euphoria-is-rue-dead-zendaya-says-no
What do you personally find most fulfilling about the show?
Oh, I think just the character I get to play. I’ve been able to dive so deep into someone’s psyche that I usually wouldn’t have the opportunity to understand or wouldn’t care to understand, which is, I guess, what it’s all about, is taking a walk in someone else’s shoes.
What’s the most difficult part of it?
Probably the duration of the shoot. We shoot for so long, and it takes so many hours. And you know it’s worthwhile while you’re doing it, but a 16-hour day is a 16-hour day.
Yeah, as they actually want it to be art, so they actually think about shots. I’m sure that just takes so much time.
Yes. But it’s obviously, as you’re doing it, you know it’s worthwhile. That’s always great.
What are the things you look forward to? What are the goals you still have set for yourself?
I really, really like movies, and I like cinema a lot. I don’t know if it’s a goal, because that feels arrogant to set a goal or assume a goal, but I feel like I’d love to have the opportunity to make my own movies. That would be something that I think excites me.
What do you think your own movies would look like? Because I know Zendaya’s someone who also looks to her own future and the sorts of movies that she wants to make. Do you have any idea of the sorts of things you want to explore?
Yes, I have a couple ideas.
Nothing you can tell me? Themes?
No, nothing.
Settings? Genres? General interests?
Yes, I don’t know. I think anything that can… I don’t know.
Whose movies do you like?
I really like Bertolucci’s films and stuff like that. I feel like something like that would be nice. But it’s heavily ambitious.
https://beta.esquireme.com/brief/zendaya-euphoria-season-2
Do you have anyone you’d wish to work with?
Oh, yes. Almost every single… I love actors, and I love directors and filmmakers. It’s pretty much anyone. But I think someone I’d really work with would probably be, probably, Paul Thomas Anderson or the Safdie brothers.
I would like to see that.
Just these great… But then I don’t want to limit that list. I can really go on and on and on.
I’m happy for you to go on and on and on.
No, I won’t. I’d bore you.
Maybe we can help something into existence.
Oh, man, that’d be amazing.
Alright let’s try.
But I just take it as it comes, and, hopefully, I can make movies that feel good to make and that maybe can stick around a while.
Do you have any personal goals, things you’re trying to improve about yourself?
I just started doing yoga, man. I’d love to stick to it.
I really hope you can.
