The Australian star of The Kissing Booth movies, Jacob Elordi, has embraced his dark side in HBO's Euphoria and says it's far preferable to play a bad boy than someone "morally correct".

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The 23-year-old star appears in HBO teen drama Euphoria, created by Sam Levinson and producer Drake, as a sports guy Nate Jacob with some spectacularly bad temper issues and it's a role that sits fine on his broad shoulders.

Speaking to Variety, Elordi said he didn't question the morality of a role. "If the script is acknowledging [poor morals] — and they’re meant to be there, and not just an outcome of bad writing — then I think it’s much more interesting to play it. I’d hate to play someone who’s morally correct all the time. We do shitty things all the time to each other."

Elordi spoke about the audition process for Euphoria, which is based on the Israeli mini-series of the same name, describing it as "super simple".

"I went down to the casting office, fumbled through my lines and ended up getting called back," he said. "And yeah, it was just like that."

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He was being coy about developments in season two of Euphoria. "Sam changes scripts like a madman. I could tell you something now, and it would not be at all relevant to what I’m going to read when we go back. It’s ever changing, even up until the day that we’re shooting."

Elordi has a naturally big frame and said it didn't require a lot of work for his role as a jock. "During Euphoria, I started the show much bigger, and then decided to lose that muscle and weight as we shot. I know a lot of male actors — kudos to them — do pushups and stuff before a scene, even if it has nothing to do with the scene, just so they look like they’re in great shape. Which is fine, but I wouldn’t say it’s my prerogative.

He said his bad side extended to his dancing, which is shocking. He didn't consider taking part in the Dance Dance Revolution scenes in The Kissing Booth 2 for good reason – he'd be terrible at them.

"Not even for a second. I don’t even think I would have been allowed. It would have been an insurance problem. I would have gotten a serious injury. They dance so hard in that. No, I’m so bad at that."

Production on Euphoria season two has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but will resume when safely able to film.

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