During the opening scenes of episode two, “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy,” we learn just how Nate (Jacob Elordi) came to be so horribly angry and toxically masculine. Apparently he’s so afraid of seeing anyone else’s penis in a locker room that he taught himself to stare straight ahead, so cue shots of Jacob Elordi standing completely still, fully clothed, while a hundred naked boys cheer and shout around him. Apparently the scene originally had a whole lot more penises, but HBO asked for some of them to be removed.
“For me, it was interesting because that scene was actually very real, and the look on my face and the way that I was feeling was very real,” Elordi told THR. “The energy in the room of that many big men jumping and yelling and slapping you—nudity aside—I’m nothing like Nate, and it was so intense. I didn’t realize locker rooms could be so intense, but it was actually quite hilarious. I don’t care about that kind of stuff, and it’s funny reading all of the reviews now—everyone’s like, ‘There’s this many penises.’ But when you’re there, it was just hilarious. I think it’s a funny scene, and I’ll definitely never forget it.”
