What Jacob Elordi's mom thinks about ‘Frankenstein' creator Guillermo del Toro

Jacob Elordi’s journey to playing a key role in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein almost didn’t happen, and it all comes down to a warning his mother gave him when he was just 10 years old.

Speaking at a recent BFI IMAX screening of Pan’s Labyrinth in London alongside del Toro, Elordi revealed that his mum, Melissa, once tried to put him off ever working with the filmmaker after being unsettled by the imagery on the film’s DVD cover. 

Long before awards buzz or Oscar nominations were even a possibility, the Frankenstein star was simply a child roaming the aisles of Blockbuster.

Elordi recalled that he used to “raid the horror aisle” at the DVD rental store, where he first came across Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro’s 2006 film.

“And I saw the tree and the little girl, and I turned it around, the DVD case, and I saw the Pale Man. And I remember thinking, what is that?” he said.

Although the film carried an “M” rating under Australia’s classification system, his mother eventually agreed to let him rent it, but with a strict condition attached. 

“You must never work with this man,” Elordi recalled her telling him. The actor laughed as he shared the story, adding simply: “And lo and behold.”

Del Toro, seated beside him, was quick to respond with a grin, joking: “It’s good to disobey one’s mother.”

Ironically, Elordi’s casting in Frankenstein came about through a twist of fate rather than long-term planning. 

The actor explained that the original performer del Toro had envisioned for the role pulled out just nine weeks before filming was due to begin, leaving Elordi with only four weeks to prepare. 

Despite the tight timeline, he said he felt no hesitation after reading the script.

He told the audience he was “so excited and so sure when I read the screenplay for the first time, that I had no fear,” adding that “there’s no other filmmaker on this planet that could make a truly great Frankenstein film.”

For del Toro, the project has been decades in the making. 

He first encountered Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as an 11-year-old and has spoken about the story in deeply personal terms. 

At the BFI IMAX, he described the Creature as a figure he profoundly identifies with, explaining that the novel shaped his worldview in ways that went beyond cinema.

Although Frankenstein was made for Netflix, del Toro strongly encouraged audiences to experience it on the big screen. 

Gesturing to the vast IMAX display behind him, he spoke passionately about the communal power of cinema and its ability to foster empathy and connection in an increasingly isolated world.

Pointing to his phone, he summed up the moment with characteristic bluntness, urging the crowd to look up from their screens and fully immerse themselves in the shared experience. 

For Elordi, it marked a full-circle moment, one where a childhood warning gave way to a career-defining collaboration, proving that sometimes, ignoring mum’s advice can lead to something extraordinary.