Saltburn Jacob Elordi Thinks That Oliver Was In Love

The Big Picture

• Jacob Elordi believes Oliver's feelings for Felix in Saltburn are driven by overwhelming, unconditional love rather than conscious cruelty.
• Elordi suggests that people's actions can stem from an unconscious "warped conditioning," and that everyone is trying their best.
• Elordi speculates that Felix did not see his death coming and was terrified of someone like Oliver, but was unable to foresee the consequences.

From the very first line muttered by Barry Keoghan’s Oliver Quick in Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, it’s implied that the film will be a love story. Of course, as the next two hours and six minutes play out, it becomes more and more apparent that “love” may not be quite the right word for Oliver’s feelings toward Felix (Jacob Elordi) and that “obsession” could be a better-suited description. Regardless, Oliver’s desperate actions to be seen as something more in the eyes of his friend all come from a place of overwhelmingly strong emotion. During an interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Elordi breaks down his thoughts on Oliver’s pull to Felix and whether he thinks it was true love or just a dark, twisted obsession that turned deadly.

“I think he loves everything fully and completely,” Elordi says when asked about Oliver’s feelings about Felix. “I don’t think he’s conscious of the kind of cruelty that’s inside him. Which is like most people, you know? I don’t think a lot of people set out to be cruel, and yet, look at where we live.”

An incredibly insightful bit of wisdom, Elordi explains that, depending on how you look at it, this warped conditioning can be seen in a lot of different ways, including “sad and messy and hopeful,” adding, “Because everyone is trying as they might in this shit, you know?” Tossing in a bit of a disclaimer, he continues, “As long as you’re trying, and it doesn’t have consequences like we see in this movie, that’s fine by me.”

Did Felix See It Coming?

As the relationship between Felix and Oliver blossoms from two acquaintances at university to a pair of friends spending their summer break at one of the young man’s castles (you know, a very run-of-the-mill experience), Fennell keeps audiences on their toes about who they can trust. While those in Felix’s life warn Oliver that he’s essentially just the flavor of the week, Oliver’s intentions become harder to interpret. Toward the end of the film, everything turns deadly when Felix dies at the hands of his supposed friend. On whether Felix was able to see his death coming as he uncovered the real person behind Oliver’s mask, Elordi said, “No, I think his blood had just turned to ice. I think he’s just terrified of someone like that. But I don’t think he can see what’s coming, no.”

While the buzz began to build for Saltburn after it was released into theaters in late November, things have come to a fever pitch for Fennell’s sophomore effort over the last week since its Amazon Prime Video launch. Audiences can now catch it on the streaming platform and see what all the hype is about for themselves.

Check out Nemiroff’s full interview with Keoghan and Elordi below.

Saltburn

Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.

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