Without knowing it, Jacob Elordi and Justin Kurzel had formed a mutual admiration society prior to collaborating on the limited series “The Narrow Road to the Deep North.” Elordi had been a fan of the filmmaker, a fellow Aussie, since seeing Kurzel’s gutting 2011 feature debut, “Snowtown,” when he was a young teenager. “Especially in Australia, it’s one of the first films that you find when you’re in high school that’s a little different and you have to talk to people about,” says the actor.
Kurzel, like the rest of the world, had been watching Elordi’s ascent in projects like “Euphoria,” “Priscilla” and “Saltburn.” He sent the actor an email saying he was adapting Richard Flanagan’s acclaimed novel “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” for television. And he wanted Elordi to play the role of Dorrigo Evans, a soldier whose passionate love affair with his uncle’s wife helps sustain him when imprisoned in a WWII Japanese labor camp. Elordi says the message was unexpected and admits he had previously thought of asking his agents to reach out to Kurzel to say, “I’m a massive fan of your work and I would love to make a film with you one day.”
When they sat down to talk, Kurzel was even more impressed. “He’s a cinephile. We had these great conversations about films, about approaching characters and the way we both want to work,” Kurzel says. “Jacob is the real deal; he’s incredibly curious about the craft of acting and wants to get the most out of it. Sometimes you can just sort of feel that something’s going to be really special.” Elordi agrees, saying the experience outweighed even his high expectations: “It’s a great example of why you should meet your heroes.”
Since hitting Amazon Prime in April, “Narrow Road” has received critical acclaim, particularly for Elordi’s harrowing portrayal of Evans. Kurzel is thrilled and relieved — he’s personal friends with Flanagan and it was the author’s request that he adapt it. “I’m always cautious about adapting novels as people obviously fall in love with the book. You worry it’s never to be as intimate as someone’s imagination,” he admits. “But Richard did something really wonderful. He said, ‘It’s really important that it’s yours, that you find a way into it and don’t be precious about it. Make sure it’s something distinct for you.’”
Elordi was drawn to the role for several reasons, including finally playing a role in his native accent. “That’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he says. “Because that’s how you act at home. And sometimes you can feel like you’re acting on top of acting when you’re telling a different nation’s story.” He adds that hopefully more people might become aware of his country’s contributions during the war thanks to the series. “It’s really important to me that our cinema plays internationally. I’m just really proud to be able to act in something from home that is, to me, of great substance.”
Elordi first shot the early flashback scenes in which Dorrigo falls for Amy (played by Odessa Young) and the actors were afford two weeks of rehearsal to build the relationship, having only ever met once before in passing and cast without a chemistry read. They then shot the POW camp scenes, for which Elordi lost about 20 pounds in six weeks. But not just any six weeks, says Kurzel: “It happened over Christmas, too!”
The actor tries to downplay the physical transformation and speaks of the mental preparation he took on “sort of like altitude training.” He had about a year to prepare and says, “Month by month, I just sort of cut little bits of my normal life off so by the time I got there, I was in a space where I could really be in it,” he notes. He adds that Kurzel gave all the actors a “manifesto” for their roles — a document of things that would help create the character. To play a doctor, Elordi also learned to tie surgical knots, a skill he says he’s already forgotten. “I love picking things up but then I feel incredibly stupid because as soon as it’s finished, everything just goes away. I can’t remember a bloody thing,” he admits. “But I can do a leg amputation, if you like.”
Shooting the love story first also helped Elordi in the camp scenes, as he could reflect on the character’s memories of his time with Amy, something that helps him while imprisoned and haunts him in later years (with the character played by Ciarán Hinds). And while the camp scenes were hard, Elordi credits Kurzel’s leadership. “Justin had made it really clear to all of us: ‘This is going to be incredibly tough if you want to do it the right way, which is how it needs to sort of be done. But I promise you, you’ll, you’ll remember this forever,’” says Elordi. “And when you have a leader that you trust and believe in as an artist telling you something like that, you’re all in.”
Adds Elordi, “It’s not hard if you really love what you do.”