[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for The Narrow Road to the Deep North.]

Summary

The five-part series ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ is a gripping character study, partly set during WWII with a focus on the emotional struggles faced by an Australian military doctor who becomes a POW.

Actor Jacob Elordi found the project rewarding and transformative, highlighting the pride in producing meaningful cinema.

Working with director Justin Kurzel felt like shooting a film, not a typical TV series, offering a unique cinematic experience.

Directed by Justin Kurzel and based on the best-selling novel by Richard Flanagan, the five-part series The Narrow Road to the Deep North, is an intimate character study focused on a young Australian man named Dorrigo Evans (Jacob Elordi) in the 1940s. From a passionate love affair with his uncle’s young wife (Odessa Young) to his time in a brutal Japanese POW camp during World War II, where the military doctor is forced to help build the Thai-Burma Railway under horrific conditions, the internal and external struggles result in emotional scars and death. And while we learn about what the younger Dorrigo endured, we also learn about how guilt and trauma shaped the older Dorrigo (Ciarán Hinds), who is a successful surgeon in the 1980s but an emotionally detached man.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Elordi discussed wanting to take on demanding projects that offer the chance of transformation, why he’s so proud of the film, that working with Kurzel was an actor’s dream, how both The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Euphoria are unlike the typical TV experience, and sharing a character with Hinds. He also talked about getting to portray two iconic characters from Gothic literature with The Monster in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Frankenstein and Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s take on Wuthering Heights.

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Collider: This seems like the type of project that you really have to put all of yourself into, body and soul. Not that you don’t put all of yourself into every project that you do, but this project, in particular, seems like it required a lot, physically and mentally. Was that part of the appeal?
ELORDI: Yeah, of course. As an actor, you always want to do the thing that seems the most demanding and offers the greatest chance of transformation. That was a big part of it. But it was also just working with Justin Kurzel, who’s a filmmaker I’ve loved for as long as I can remember. So, it wasn’t really daunting. It was just terribly exciting.
Looking back on this project now, what feels most rewarding to you about it? Do you feel a certain sense of accomplishment after completing something like this?
ELORDI: I do. The thing that makes me most proud is that we made it at home in Australia. The goal was to make something substantial and something that felt true and important, and I’m really proud of everyone that put their time and effort into it. I think it really says a lot about Australian cinema and about our place in the world of cinema, so I’m really proud of it.
Jacob Elordi Wanted to Meet the Demands of Brutal War Story ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’

“It was actually quite a spiritual experience.”

There are so many scenes set during the war in this that are so visceral in so many ways. How hard was it to shoot the scenes where you had physically transformed yourself? What was it like to experience all of that?
ELORDI: You know, it’s strange. It just happens, like most things. It’s something that you go down the road on, it takes place, and you get through it. It was incredibly rewarding, actually, because it’s not a state that you often find yourself in on purpose. So, doing it in a safe environment with a bunch of people working toward the same goal, it was actually quite a spiritual experience.
Was there a most challenging day for you during this shoot, or does it all blur together once you’re in it?
ELORDI: You know what? We were having so much fun and we were so acutely aware of how special this experience was. As a young Australian man, to work on a set of that intensity with a filmmaker like Justin Kurzel, that really is your ultimate goal, from the moment that you want to be an actor. We all found this common energy in the fact that we were all living our individual little dreams. So, it was never grueling or tough. It was just exciting.

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When you watch this TV series, it really has the feel and look and scope of a film. Because Justin Kurzel came from film and hadn’t done a TV series, how did it feel to work with him, in that regard? Did it ever feel like he was trying a new medium for the first time, or did it just feel like you were shooting a film?
ELORDI: It felt like we were making a movie the whole time. Our whole ethos was that we were making a film. Justin gave us so much freedom. We had all the time that we needed. We had a six-week break to be able to cut the weight. The whole thing was a cinematic endeavor. It just so happens that Richard [Flanagan]’s book works in such a way that you can really only fit it across five or so hours of television to get the memory element right. But it was exactly the same as making a movie.
It’s interesting because you’ve done a TV series before, but Euphoria doesn’t seem like a typical TV series either.
ELORDI: No, not at all.
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“I’m sure I haven’t had a real television experience.”

Image via HBO

Was making that series also a very different experience? How did it compare to doing something like this? Does it almost feel like you haven’t done a TV series, in that sense?
ELORDI: I’m sure it does. I’m sure I haven’t had a real television experience. On Euphoria, we shoot on film, and Sam [Levinson]’s point of view and his vision is that of somebody that makes cinema. So, I’m quite spoiled in so many ways. It’s great, though. It’s an incredible thing that we have this medium that has come to the forefront of entertainment with television and that filmmakers are finding a way to ensure that it’s cinematic and that it does feel like film. I guess the only difference is that we aren’t on a cinema screen, which is the saddest part of the whole thing. But at least people are trying to do something with the form.

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Finally!

You’ve already worked with a list of pretty incredible directors in your career. Has that inspired you, in that sense? Do you see yourself directing at some point down the line?
ELORDI: I love to make movies. But I think the more incredible directors you work with, you comprehend the undertaking a little bit more.
If you’re going to share a role with an actor, Ciarán Hinds is a pretty great counterpart to have, and you’re both so good in this. Did you guys work together at all behind the scenes to make sure your performances were complimentary, or do you just feel really lucky that it lined up the way it did?
ELORDI: Just lucky. Probably also hats off to Justin and the casting team for seeing something in us. We only met after we had filmed briefly, so we had no conversation. I think it’s better that way because it can become contrived if you think, “Oh, I’m going to move my pinky this way, so you do the same thing.” And I’m going to do two blinks on this.” It would just become a caricature. Whereas we were lucky enough to have this essence that ran through the whole thing that just worked out.
Jacob Elordi Is Excited for Audiences to See ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’

“I had the best time on both films.”

Image via Vertical

You’ve recently come off of playing the Monster in Frankenstein, where you got to work with Guillermo del Toto. And then, you got to play Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. What’s it like to play two iconic characters in Gothic literature?
ELORDI: It’s the coolest thing, ever. I’m spoiled for the rest of my life in movies. What do you do? I had the best time on both films, and the language was so rich. The cinematic language of Guillermo and of Emerald was so incredibly unreal, and the sets were so deeply impressive. I can’t believe that I’ve been a part of two movies like this because they just don’t make movies of that scale anymore, and I’ve just done two back-to-back. I couldn’t be prouder or more excited for people to see those films.
Does it feel like Wuthering Heights is very much Emerald Fennell’s take on Wuthering Heights?
ELORDI: Yeah, but it’s also incredibly traditional, in so many ways. She is seriously a genius. She knows this book more than anyone, I think, on this earth. It’ll always be an Emerald Fennell film, but it’s brilliant.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North is available to stream on Prime Video. Check out the trailer: