After James Cameron, Jacob Elordi Enters the AI Debate—and Shares What’s Next After Euphoria

Hollywood is at war with itself over AI—stars are investing even as they protest, and Disney is handing beloved characters to OpenAI’s Sora. Into this standoff steps Jacob Elordi, fresh off Netflix’s Frankenstein, drawing his own line on where AI belongs in storytelling.

Hollywood is still arguing with itself about AI. Some folks are dabbling in it, others are loudly swearing it off, and we even got the surreal sight of Disney letting its characters show up in OpenAI's Sora. Right in the middle of that mess: Jacob Elordi, who just played Frankenstein's monster for Guillermo del Toro and has zero patience for the AI hype.

Jacob Elordi is bored to death by AI

In a December 11 chat with Vanity Fair, the Kissing Booth and Saltburn star made it crystal clear he wants no part of the tech conversation. He has worked around names like Ana de Armas, Ben Affleck, and Johnny Depp, but when it comes to artificial intelligence, he is not interested in the slightest.

"As a human being, I have no tolerance for it - nor the ever encroaching, constant conversation that we keep having about it... I just have no interest in it at all, because it’s so fucking boring. That’s ones and zeros. That’s numbers. It’s digital. I can’t focus on it. It bores me, personally."

He did throw a bone to the tinkerers: if you love it, go "play around" and "build a robot." He would rather "kiss on the beach, and read a novel, and be sunburnt."

James Cameron still sounds like James Cameron on AI

Leave it to the guy who made Terminator to be wary of the tech. Cameron told CBS News that the idea of typing a prompt and conjuring a synthetic actor is "horrifying" and "the opposite" of what filmmaking should be. He also said the genuinely scary scenario is when AI gets fused with weapons systems, up to nuclear defense and counterstrike. So yes, he is very much still watching the doomsday clock.

Del Toro wants nothing to do with generative AI

Elordi’s comments came not long after his Frankenstein director weighed in. Guillermo del Toro, 61, has spent a career building creatures with hands-on artistry in films like Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Shape of Water. On NPR, he did not mince words about generative tools:

"AI, particularly generative AI - I am not interested, nor will I ever be interested... I hope to be able to remain uninterested in using it at all until I croak... The other day, somebody wrote me an email, said, 'What is your stance on AI?' And my answer was very short. I said, 'I’d rather die.'"

How Elordi crash-landed into Frankenstein

This part is actually pretty wild. Andrew Garfield was originally eyed to play the monster, but he had to bail because of scheduling. Nine weeks into production, Elordi got the offer. Problem: he was in the middle of shooting the WWII miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Translation: almost no prep time for one of the most physically specific characters you can play.

So he built his own crash course. He kept a reference book with images and color notes, and he forced himself to write with his left hand even though he is right-handed. That little dissonance helped him find the creature’s off-kilter physicality. Once he wrapped the miniseries, he disappeared into the woods for four weeks that "felt like 20," getting quiet enough to really feel the cold. He used that sensation as a bridge: what does cold mean to me, with my life experiences, versus what does it mean to a stitched-together being who never had a life until the moment he opened his eyes?

The quick-hit details

• Film: Frankenstein (Netflix)
• Director: Guillermo del Toro
• Cast: Jacob Elordi (the Monster), Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, and more
• Lead shuffle: Andrew Garfield was considered first but exited due to scheduling; Elordi stepped in nine weeks after cameras started rolling
• Timing headache: Elordi was simultaneously filming The Narrow Road to the Deep North, limiting his prep
• Release: October 17, 2025
• Where to watch: Streaming on Netflix now
• Scores: IMDb 7.5/10; Rotten Tomatoes 85% Tomatometer, 94% Audience

Where this leaves the AI discourse

Between Disney handing characters to OpenAI's Sora and filmmakers like Cameron and del Toro pushing back, the industry is clearly split. Elordi, for his part, wants to keep the work human, messy, and analog. Whether that stance wins out in the long run is anyone’s guess, but the man is not pretending to care about the shiny new toys.