Jacob Elordi is sharing his somewhat unconventional experience losing weight for his latest role.

“I think there was something quite profound that happened, in that it wasn’t complete torture,” Elordi told reporters at a Berlin Film Festival press conference, per Variety on Saturday, February 15.

In the upcoming Amazon Prime series The Narrow Road to the Deep North, directed by Justin Kurzel, Elordi, 27, plays a prisoner of war – a role that required the Euphoria actor to shed more than a few pounds.

“There was a peace that sort of came over all of us,” the actor told reporters, according to the outlet. “And you kind of reach a level of love that goes beyond what you’re used to, because everything gets stripped away and you come down to the bare bones of, ‘Is my mate OK? Am I OK? How can I help? Do you want a jelly bean?”

Elordi went on to add that while preparing for their respective roles, the cast spent their time “watching each other and taking care of each other, so it [became] quite primal.”

“And I’m just really grateful to have shared that with these lads,” he continued.

The actor also gave some insight into why he gravitated toward the role, despite its physical demands.

“I really am just a superfan who is kind of following his heart,” he said of the series. “I have no real interest in making movies for the sake of entertainment, for making money. It’s to try and capture that impossible feeling that we all have when we see something that’s of substance to us.”

Kurzel, 50, said during Saturday’s press conference that “the boys made an incredible sacrifice to lose an enormous amount of weight” for their respective roles.

Jacob Elordi is turning heads with his new look. The Saltburn star, 27, was nearly unrecognizable with a full beard at the Marrakech International Film Festival in Morocco on Friday, November 29. Elordi – who attended the Opening Ceremony and a screening of The Order at the 21st annual event – wore his longer, grown […]

“[It was] incredibly powerful in terms of what it felt like on set and the connection they all had,” he continued, per Variety.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North — based on Richard Flanagan’s novel of the same name — follows medical officer Dorrigo Evans (Elordi), a “Japanese prisoner of war forced to work on the Thai-Burma railway,” according to the series’ official synopsis. While following his life “over the span of several decades as he moves from being a soldier to a prisoner, to returned war hero, to esteemed surgeon and reluctant celebrity,” the series also shows how the character is “haunted by the memory of his affair with his uncle’s wife, Amy (Odessa Young).”

Elordi and Young star in the series alongside Ciarán Hinds, Olivia DeJonge and Simon Baker.