Christopher Abbott might be the new James Dean, but is Jacob Elordi our new Paul Newman?
Elordi revealed that he channeled the late iconic “Hud” actor for upcoming queer romance drama “On Swift Horses.” The “Euphoria” actor told Vanity Fair that he studied Newman’s “sensitivity” for bringing the novel adaptation to the big screen.
“I just watched Paul Newman’s movies and tried to build a voice around the way that he spoke, and movement around the way he moved — particularly in ‘Hud,’ because he has a great sensitivity in his steely output there,” Elordi said.
Elordi plays Korean War veteran Julius, who upends his brother’s (Will Poulter) marriage after falling in love with his sister-in-law (Daisy Edgar-Jones). Julius also has an affair with a fellow hustler, played by “Babylon” breakout star Diego Calva. “Fellow Travelers” director Daniel Minahan helms the film, which will make its world premiere at TIFF 2024 as a sales title.
Elordi said that he worked closely with Calva to prepare for their love scenes before the cameras started rolling.
“He’s a real cool customer,” Elordi said of co-star Calva. “We had a week of intensive [prep] in the motel room, and [director] Dan gave us a lot of freedom to run around and to play and to find that love within those four walls.”
Calva previously told Variety in 2023 that “On Swift Horses” has more than a few steamy scenes with his and Elordi’s respective characters.
“I don’t know if I can say this but we are going to have pretty hot scenes in this movie,” Calva said. “You have to wait. But I think it will be a pretty cool movie.”
And Calva cited Elordi’s passion for both cinematic and stage history.
“It was so cool to work with him. He’s obsessed with photography, he’s obsessed with old plays,” Calva said of Elordi. “He loves Tennessee Williams, he loves Chekhov. He’s not the guy you maybe think he is. He’s such a cool actor. He’s just amazing. I feel very proud.”
However, Elordi’s recent collaborator Paul Schrader has a different modern leading man in mind to take on late actor Newman’s crown.
Elordi stars in Schrader’s “Oh, Canada,” playing a younger version of Richard Gere’s character. Schrader, though, thinks “On Swift Horses” actress Edgar-Jones’ “Twisters” co-star Glen Powell might be the most like Newman.
“Glen Powell is a movie star in the Holden/Mitchum/Newman mold,” Schrader wrote on Facebook, citing William Holden, Robert Mitchum, and, of course, Newman himself. “Now he needs to make his ‘Hud.’”