OPINION — What I’m about to write is going to make some people angry, but until recently I didn’t think Jacob Elordi was a particularly talented actor.
Sure, he was handsome and tall and charming in a generic Hollywood heartthrob way, but nothing really set him apart from the pack.
Then I saw him as The Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and realised he’d made a fool of me.
With his good looks stripped away, Elordi was no longer the archetypical hot leading man audiences have seen again and again in films like The Kissing Booth and Saltburn.
Suddenly he was something more than a flirty smirk, a full head of hair, and a 6-foot-plus height.
For the first time, Elordi was playing a ‘freaky little guy’ – and he did a damn good job.
As The Creature, Elordi proved a long-held theory of mine that nothing cements an actor’s talent like stripping away their looks and making them play something weird.
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As The Creature, Elordi transformed from just another handsome ‘white boy of the week’ into a bona fide actor in my eyes.
And this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.
You see, when it comes to handsome, young male stars there’s really only one kind of role that can convince me of their acting chops – and that’s the ‘freaky little guy’.
What is a ’freaky little guy’, you ask?
It’s a broad umbrella term for characters that are a bit weird, off-putting, or otherwise freaky, visually or in their characterisation.
Sometimes they’re good guys, sometimes they’re bad guys – usually they’re somewhere in between.
Think Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight.
‘Freaky little guy’ characters are typically (but not always):
- Not conventionally attractive
- Have some weird traits or physical features the actor has to embody (e.g. an unusual vocal performance, wearing prosthetics, etc.)
- Require actors to really commit to the role for it to work
There are some actors who spend a good chunk of their careers playing ’freaky little guy’ roles (Joaquin Phoenix, Johnny Depp).
But when an actor who has been typecast as the hot leading man takes on one of these roles and puts in the work to do it well, it proves he’s more than just a pretty face.
If the actor can’t or won’t commit to the visual, vocal and physical performance in a ‘freaky little guy’ role it will fall flat.
But if they fully commit, the result can be downright incredible.
Case in point: Elordi’s turn as The Creature.
Covered in grotesque prosthetics that make him look like a literal walking corpse, Elordi’s performance is totally divorced from his classic good looks and becomes something so much more captivating.
His voice, his physicality, his mannerisms have all been altered to portray the loneliness and rage and tragedy of the character, which is so far removed from his usual roles.
He oscillates between child-like wonder and inhuman rage with shocking speed, giving a performance the likes of which audiences have never seen from Elordi before.
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This is the power of the ’freaky little guy’ role.
It strips Hollywood heartthrobs of their leading man looks and gives them the chance to become something new, oftentimes prompting truly inspired performances.
Just look at Austin Butler, who had his ’freaky little guy’ moment last year.
Until 2024, Butler was known to many as that hot guy who got too attached to his Elvis accent.
Then he hit screens as bald, bleached, brow-less ‘freaky little guy’ Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in Dune: Part Two and transcended his Hollywood heartthrob status.
Suddenly, audiences that had previously doubted his acting chops got to see him in a new light.
The ‘freaky little guy’ role proves handsome actors are more than their looks.
And it’s something I want to see more of from Hollywood’s hottest young actors, from Timothée Chalamet, to Tom Holland, and Paul Mescal.
Because yeah, they’re good looking – but acting is about so much more than that.
And nothing proves an actors chops like embodying something a little bit freaky.
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