BERLIN (AP) 鈥� is gearing up for another busy year.
He'll soon be seen in Guillermo del Toro鈥檚 much-anticipated 鈥淔rankenstein鈥� and is currently filming Emerald Fennell鈥檚 鈥淲uthering Heights." But during a recent interview in Berlin, Elordi, complete with wild curly Heathcliff hair and sideburns, had his upcoming Australian 鈥淭he Narrow Road to the Deep North鈥� on the mind.
Fellow Australian directs the adaptation of 鈥檚 Man-Booker prize-winning novel of the same name, which tells the story of medical officer Dorrigo Evans (Elordi). Evans was forced to work on the Thai-Burma railway in the jungle of a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II.
Kurzel and Flanagan are friends from Tasmania, where they both live, and celebrated in London together when Flanagan won the esteemed literary award. But in true Australian style, the idea for the TV series came from a chat back home at a barbeque, Kurzel says with a chuckle.
Fittingly, 鈥淭he Narrow Road to the Deep North鈥� is showing in Australia on Prime Video starting on April 18 before reaching Sky and WOW in Germany this summer. (Additional territories have yet to be announced.)
The story spans three different timelines 鈥� pre-, during and post-war 鈥� and three different points of view, which start to merge and overlap as the story unfolds.
Although the series is about the courage and horrors of war, a love story is at its heart. Through his ordeal, the married Dorrigo is both sustained and tormented by memories of a love affair he had with his uncle鈥檚 wife Amy, his one true love, played by Odessa Young.
While Kurzel describes the romance as 鈥渢he absolute spirit of the whole series,鈥� Elordi admits he was initially 鈥減retty frightened鈥� about bringing it to the screen.
鈥淚 was worried that it would kind of overtake the elements of the novel that kind of interested me, which was the war parts,鈥� says Elordi.
But the way Kurzel shot and directed those scenes prompted a change of heart.
鈥淗e allowed us this space for it to be incredibly raw and real and gentle and it ended up becoming my sort of favorite part of the filmmaking process because we shot it in halves.鈥�
Kurzel says he had never done a love story and was 鈥漞xtremely careful and cautious and fiercely curious about what that would be with Jacob and Odessa.鈥�
With the love story shot first, Elordi, who had a major year in 2023 after starring as Elvis Presley in 鈥淧riscilla鈥� and Fennell鈥檚 鈥淪altburn,鈥� adds he was better able to shape his portrayal of the haunted Dorrigo, when it came time to film the Japanese POW scenes.
鈥淏eing able to have those memories while we were shooting the camps, of shooting with Dess (Odessa Young) and Olivia (DeJonge), was a core part of the performance, which goes back to Richard鈥檚 book. The two just inform each other, like it鈥檚 a whole life.鈥�
Casting Elordi was easy for Kurzel who said he 鈥渒new right away鈥� that he was right for the role but adds that a special dedication and focus was needed from all the actors cast as soldiers, as they underwent dramatic weight loss to play prisoners of war.
鈥淭he crew looking at them coming on set 鈥� there鈥檚 a 鈥榃ow, we鈥檇 better be on today because we can see kind of what these boys have done for it.鈥� So that was really, really powerful,鈥� Kurzel says.
Their dedication allowed him to shoot these brutal scenes in a very grounded and truthful way.
鈥淭hese boys are incredible, but they鈥檙e incredibly tired. They鈥檙e kind of wasted away, you know, the level of sort of focus, you can鈥檛 have it for the whole day. So you鈥檝e got to be really kind of precise about that.鈥�
Elordi says that the six-week weight loss journey was a cumulative effort that also included the background actors. 鈥淪eeing that many, especially young people put that effort into something. It was genuinely amazing to see that when we came back from that break, it was like, oh, my God.鈥�
This series marks the second time Elordi has co-starred with an older version of himself in the same movie.
Last year Elordi played a young version of Richard Gere in Paul Schrader鈥檚 鈥淥h, Canada鈥� and in this series Irish actor Ciar谩n Hinds plays him in his later years, looking back on his time in the war. Asked who he would like to see play an older version of himself next, Elordi laughed and suggested 鈥淢eryl Streep.鈥�
And while fans wait for that collaboration, Elordi says he will not be letting the inevitable rise in fame phase him.
鈥淚 get to make movies a lot, and that is my dream so I am probably the luckiest man alive.鈥�
Louise Dixon, The Associated Press
