Audiences in all places might have been grossed out by the notorious bathtub scene in “Saltburn,” however Jacob Elordi thinks they’re all being too prudish. In a brand new interview with Leisure Weekly, the actor in contrast the movie to different media, which he claims is “way more excessive” — and he is proper.
Barry Keoghan gave an impressive efficiency in 2023’s bleakest comedy “Saltburn,” convincingly portraying a nervous fish-out-of-water working-class pupil amongst privileged Oxford elites earlier than remodeling right into a deranged, obsessive killer. The movie did endure from that more and more prevalent development of primarily mashing two motion pictures collectively and leaving audiences questioning how the primary one ends. However in any other case, it was well-received and prompted loads of buzz. It wasn’t simply the truth that its younger star was glorious within the lead function of Oliver Fast, the movie was downright salacious in elements, searing indelible pictures into the viewers’s collective cortex that may possible eternally stay.
There was, after all, the half the place Oliver enjoys … er, congress with a grave website (a riveting scene that was improvised) or the second the place he “engages with” Alison Oliver’s Venetia Catton at an inopportune second in her pure cycle. However neither of those unhinged moments left fairly the mark that the notorious bathtub scene etched into our recollections. For these unaware, “Saltburn” sees Oliver concurrently kind a deep hatred for, and turn out to be obsessive about, Elordi’s Felix Catton. As you may think, such a potent cocktail of feelings results in some uncommon conduct, corresponding to when he secretly watches Felix pleasure himself in a tub solely to sneak in and lap up the dregs of the bathwater because it disappears into the drain. All of which is simply pretty, in keeping with Elordi.
Jacob Elordi thinks Saltburn pearl-clutchers ought to relax
Director Emerald Fennell advised Individuals that the bath scene in “Saltburn” — which evidently elicited squeals behind the scenes — was “the sexiest factor [she’d] ever seen in [her] life.” However she was within the minority, as reactions ranged from mortification to outright disgust. For Jacob Elordi, nevertheless, it was however a drop within the ocean of shock and outrage.
The actor has addressed the bath debacle earlier than, telling Stream Wars he was “actually excited” when studying the scene for the primary time, since you do not actually see issues like that in mainstream motion pictures loads of the time.” For him, pushing boundaries was the secret, and he definitely managed to do this — not less than in keeping with audiences. For the actor himself, glugging down dirty bathwater is not all that surprising.
In 2025, Elordi as soon as once more addressed the scene in his Leisure Weekly interview, the place he stated the response confirmed him “simply how, I assume, prudish we’re.” He continued by mentioning different motion pictures with way more outrageous content material:
“Once I watch [the bathtub scene], I simply assume there’s way more excessive issues in cinema that I’ve seen, way more graphic […] There’s extra alarming issues within the high 10 streamed remakes of crime documentaries on each streaming platform. I feel that is way more alarming, the sort of horrible pleasure that all of us get from watching youngsters be mutilated. That is what was fascinating to me.”
Elordi, who would make an important alternative for Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in “American Psycho,” went on to characterize the scene as “a chunk of fiction with one thing just a bit taboo, and that makes folks’s pores and skin crawl,” saying that there is an “fascinating parallel” between that and a number of the extra upsetting media out there at present.
Jacob Elordi is true concerning the Saltburn bathtub scene
No matter you consider Jacob Elordi’s evaluation, his feedback elevate some necessary factors which might be a heck of much more fascinating than getting all labored up about actors pretending to do gross stuff. Particularly, his reference to true crime and the dramatization of real-life tragedy.
In 2025 must-watch doc “Predators” requested uncomfortable questions concerning the true crime sensation, which is able to hopefully mark the start of some form of reckoning. True crime documentaries are as standard as they’ve ever been, however the style has lengthy since reached a degree the place the road between leisure and journalism has been blurred. Netflix’s “The Good Neighbor” was lauded as a gripping and highly effective documentary when it debuted this 12 months — and in some ways it was. However the expertise of watching a younger boy turn out to be bereaved in real-time through bodycam footage was, for me, a step too far.
Many others do not feel the identical, however for me, this felt like a turning level for the style, which generally censors probably the most upsetting pictures. On this instance, nevertheless, this totally crushing second performs out unimpeded. I needed to flip it off — not solely as a result of it made me uncomfortable, however as a result of I truthfully do not know whether or not that traumatized boy on the display was being served by me watching from my sofa as a manner of passing a Thursday night.
There’s additionally the opposite facet of Elordi’s feedback, which referenced “remakes of crime documentaries.” That instantly brings to thoughts Ryan Murphy and his ongoing exploitation of real-life tragedy in his “Monster” sequence, which director OzPerkins already took down in spectacular fashion. Think about if the dialog was centered extra on this form of stuff reasonably than Barry Keoghan pretending to lap up the remnants of Jacob Elordi’s tub…
