Jacob Elordi says Noah in The Kissing Booth is “awful", compares him to Nate in Euphoria

24 June 2019, 13:25

By Sam Prance

Jacob Elordi reveals what he really thinks of Noah Flynn and Netflix's The Kissing Booth.

Jacob Elordi has just called Noah from The Kissing Booth "awful" and compared him to his new character Nate in Euphoria.

It's no secret that Noah Flynn in The Kissing Booth was Jacob Elordi's breakthrough acting role. The lead part turned Jacob from a promising young star into one of Hollywood's biggest heartthrobs. Literally, as soon as the film came out on Netflix last May, Jacob gained a legion of loyal fans. He now has over 5.8 million followers on Instagram alone.

Will Jacob Elordi be in The Kissing Booth 2?

However, the reception to The Kissing Booth wasn't all positive. Many people called out Jacob's character Noah for being problematic and now Jacob has revealed what he really thinks of Noah.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Jacob thanked The Kissing Booth for giving him a platform as an actor. He said: "The Kissing Booth was the first film I ever made, it was sort of my ticket to Hollywood so I was really grateful for that."

However, Jacob then discussed the ways in which The Kissing Booth failed to address Noah's toxic masculinity and how Euphoria does a much better job of pointing out his character's flaws. Opening up about the two projects, Jacob said: "It’s almost like righting my wrongs a little bit too, because the character in The Kissing Booth is awful and it’s never really explained."

Jacob then added: "He’s kind of idolised and made into a hero, so I suppose Euphoria is showing why." And Jacob is right. While The Kissing Booth painted Noah as a dreamy bad boy, Euphoria depicts Nate as the terrible person he is.

In The Kissing Booth, Noah is controlling (he threatens boys who want to date Elle), violent (he beats up boys who go near Elle) and he victim blames (he tells Elle that "wearing a skirt like that is asking for it", after she gets sexually assaulted by another student. In spite of all of this, he faces no real consequences for his actions and, like Jacob says, it's never explained in any way why Noah is the way he is.

By contrast, Euphoria tells Nate's story in depth. Nate is a jock and a severe bully but, as opposed to portraying him as a two dimensional villain or a hero, Euphoria explores how Nate became the person he is, without excusing his actions. In Euphoria, we find out that Nate was brought up to be as masculine as possible. He also stumbled across his Dad's homemade, violent porn collection (almost always with trans women) as a child and it heavily shaped him.

Talking about Nate, Jacob said: "You’re always the bad guy when you’re the jock or have toxic masculinity, but I think it’s important to show that that person comes from somewhere as well. It’s almost like an unspoken thing and they’re usually used as a trope to show a villain or a humorous character, when really there is a real boy there who has fallen victim to ages of toxic masculinity which has been passed down and there’s a reason why he is how he is."

Jacob will reprise the role of Noah in The Kissing Booth 2 in 2020. Here's hoping that the film will learn from Euphoria and address the ways in which Noah is problematic, while also explaining how he came to be the way he is.

What do you think? Is Noah Flynn awful?