Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock/Netflix
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Netflix
Ali Condon
Jacob Elordi has admitted that he almost quit acting entirely after making Netflix's The Kissing Booth - and I'm glad he reconsidered, but I do understand.
The teen rom-com, based on the book series of the same name by Beth Reekes, was a massive hit, and shot Jacob Elordi to unimaginable levels of fame, before he went on to star in the likes of Euphoria and Deep Water.
Despite the film giving him his big break, the Aussie actor contemplated throwing in the towel as soon as The Kissing Booth hit the small screen.
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But contrary to what some people (myself included) might assume, Jacob's rash decision wasn't because of the painfully cheesy film itself.
Explaining his thought process, Jacob said to GQ: "[It] might sound quite sensitive and dramatic, but I am sensitive and I’m very dramatic. I hated being a character to the public. I felt so far from myself."
“It felt like, all of a sudden, I was a poster. Like I was a billboard. It felt like it was for sale."
"Then my brain went through the f**king wringer. Like, I wasn’t sure if I was genuine. It really skews your view. It creates a very paranoid way of living."
In The Kissing Booth film franchise, Jacob plays Noah Flynn, the bad boy love interest of lead character Elle Evans (Joey King), and older brother of Elle's best friend Lee (Joel Courtney).
The first film, which hit Netflix in 2018, sees Elle struggle with her feelings for Noah, after swearing to Lee that she would never, ever, date his brother. Spoiler alert: They end up dating. Two more movies worth of drama ensues.
After the first film dropped on Netflix, Jacob shot from regular (insanely tall) guy to super-stardom, earning 4 million Instagram followers overnight.
"I had to go through and delete my high school pictures because that was the Instagram that I used for my life", he shared. "I wish people could understand how drastic that change was."
Okay fine, so Jacob's reason for nearly quit acting wasn't that he hated The Kissing Booth as much as I did.
But he did spill that he knows it's not exactly... good.
Speaking about his dad John, who doesn't exactly have a full grasp of just how famous his son really is, Jacob recalled: "He’ll still be like, 'Are you going to shoot the one…where you’re kissing? In the booth?', ‘No, Dad, I’m making good movies, I swear', 'Is that the one where you’re an American?', ‘I’m American in all of them, Dad'."
That being said, Jacob put everything he had into the character of Noah Flynn from day one.
"I remember saying, 'He smokes in the book. I need to smoke. He needs to have cigarettes. He’s a bad boy,'" said the actor, explaining that some aspects of Noah's character weren't carried over from the book.
"I remember going to war for it. I was like, Are we lying to the f**king millions of 14-year-olds out there? This guy smokes nicotine. It says here on page four - look!"