Jacob Elordi slams 'prudish' reaction to “Saltburn” bathtub scene: 'There's far more extreme things in cinema'
- - Jacob Elordi slams 'prudish' reaction to “Saltburn” bathtub scene: 'There's far more extreme things in cinema'
Wesley StenzelNovember 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
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Courtesy of Prime Video
Jacob Elordi in 'Saltburn'Key points -
Jacob Elordi thinks audiences' shocked reactions to Saltburn's bathtub scene reflects how "prudish we are."
The Frankenstein star says, "There's more alarming things in the top 10 streamed remakes of crime documentaries on every streaming platform."
Elordi describes the scene as merely being "just a little taboo."
Jacob Elordi wasn't particularly impressed with the public's reaction to a buzzy Saltburn scene.
During a conversation with Entertainment Weekly's Awardist podcast, the Frankenstein star reflects on the infamous bathtub scene in Emerald Fennell's 2023 thriller, which saw Oliver (Barry Keoghan) slurp up bathwater after secretly witnessing Felix (Elordi) masturbate in the tub. The scene caused a stir online and even inspired a "Jacob Elordi's Bathwater" candle that took the internet by storm.
Elordi believes shocked reactions to the bathtub scene reflect some audiences' pearl-clutching over seeing sex on film.
"I actually think it shows me just how, I guess, prudish we are," he says, noting that he's witnessed much wilder moments in other movies. "When I watch that, I just think there's far more extreme things in cinema that I've seen, far more graphic."
Courtesy of Prime Video
Jacob Elordi in 'Saltburn'
Elordi also suggests that audiences will lap up distressing violence in entertainment without batting an eye, which makes the reaction to the sexual content in Saltburn seem even more puzzling.
"There's more alarming things in the top 10 streamed remakes of crime documentaries on every streaming platform," he says. "I think that's much more alarming, the kind of horrible joy that we all get from watching children be mutilated. That's what was interesting to me."
The Euphoria actor was intrigued by viewers' visceral reactions to the sequence: "I was like, here's a piece of fiction with something just a little taboo, and that makes people's skin crawl. It's an interesting parallel."
Fennell previously told EW that shooting the bathtub scene elicited an unusual reaction from the film's unflappable cinematographer Linus Sandgren.
"When Barry started to rim the drain, Linus squealed like a little girl, and we had to edit it out, and he was like, 'F---,'" the filmmaker said. "That is the thing — if in the room on the monitor you are all feeling like, 'Whoa, holy s---,' then it's the most exciting thing in the world."
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Barry Keoghan in 'Saltburn'
She continued, "Because it's not just that something's incredibly sexy, or at least I think it is; it has an involuntary physical response actually, that even when you are not physically supposed to respond vocally because you're filming, you do that because it's something that you can't help but respond to. And it's those moments where you know that you are getting to something that is incredible."
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Listen to the full Awardist conversation with Elordi above.
Reporting by Gerrad Hall.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
