Yahoo Finance Jacob Elordi Says He Went 'To War' With Netflix Over 'Kissing Booth' Smoking
Elordi attends the 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" on May 2 in New York City. (Photo: Jamie McCarthy via Getty Images)
Smoking ban be damned, Jacob Elordi said he went “to war” with Netflix in an effort to stay true to his character in “The Kissing Booth” series.
Elordi portrayed Noah in the movie adaption of the book, written by author Beth Reekles. His character smokes in the novel, so the actor wanted the same to be true in his portrayal ― to no avail.
“I remember saying, ’He smokes in the book. I need to smoke. He needs to have cigarettes. He’s a bad boy,” Elordi told GQ magazine in a profile published on Monday.
The streaming giant didn’t budge.
“I was like, ‘This is bullshit!’ I remember going to war for it,” the “Euphoria” actor said.
“I was like, ‘Are we lying to the fucking millions of 14-year-olds out there? This guy smokes nicotine,” he continued. “It says here on page four – look!’ I imagine people were just like, ‘Jesus fucking Christ. Is this guy serious?’”
Elordi isn’t the only one clashing with film studio no-smoking rules. Colin Farrell was recently denied The Penguin’s signature cigarette holder in 2022′s “The Batman” movie.
“Big studios make big decisions around such things as the presence of cigarettes in films,” Farrell said in an interview for the YouTube channel Jake’s Takes in February.
“I fought valiantly for a cigar. At one stage I said, ‘I can have it unlit! Just let me have it unlit.’ They were like, ‘No,’” Farrell said. As if “a bunch of 12-year-olds are going to start smoking Cuban cigars because” of me.
Emma Stone faced similar circumstances when she portrayed Cruella de Vil in Disney’s origin story “Cruella” — without the villain’s trademark cigarette holder.
“That is not allowed in 2021,” the actor told The New York Times last year with a laugh. “We are not allowed to smoke onscreen in a Disney film. It was difficult to not have that cigarette holder.”
“I was so excited to have that green plume of smoke in there, but it was not possible,” Stone added. “I don’t want to promote smoking, but I’m also not trying to promote skinning puppies.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
