Openly talented men and monsters
On Jonathan Bailey's deserved rise to mainsteam and Jacob Elordi's moving performance as the Creature in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein.
Just when I was pondering what to write about, modern pop culture has come to the rescue with one of its absurd, most likely outdated, clearly useless although arguably entertaining tenets, which for a change doesn’t involve commenting on a woman’s appearance.
I’m talking about People’s Magazine sexiest man alive announcement, an honour which this year has been bestowed upon Jonathan Bailey.
Highly deserved, if I may add, as well as long overdue even though this is nothing else but a PR exercise aimed at giving a boost to whatever projects an actor1 is about to release and can promote the hell out of thanks to his newfound appreciation as a global stallion, which like most things in this life is both a subjective consideration as well as a very ephemeral status. But any opportunity to shine a light on Jonathan Bailey and let the people finally catch up with his talent must be cherished.
If you believe for a second that this recognition, for lack of a better word, is awarded based on objective sexiness levels, suffice to say that last year’s incumbent was John Krasinski, which by all means comes across as a highly likeable guy but I struggle to picture him as the man I’d want to rip my knickers off. Same with his predecessor, Chris Evans, who to me is just kryptonite in the lust department, especially after seeing him in Materialists.
In a move that has probably surprised even those involved in the election process, this year People’s Magazine have actually managed to choose someone who, unlike the previous winners, is very welcome to step into any naughty mental scenarios of half of the world’s men and women alike, mine included. He may already have, if we are being honest.
You must know Jonathan Bailey is the first ever openly gay recipient of People’s Magazine distinction, and his appointment has been one of the few moments of collective joy and union (on account of the very inappropriate thoughts he conjures up in both women and men alike) we have experienced this year2. That tells you a lot about how rubbish these lists have been so far and how they’ve failed to award those truly deserving regardless of sexual orientation.
I am very well aware that in a capitalistic patriarchal society your main driver of consumption is desire, whether for material things or for someone else’s body. Therefore, being sexually available to the gender that has been historically manipulated into wanting things that they don’t need in order to feel better about themselves (aka women) is paramount.
Hence, the sexiest man alive can’t be gay because otherwise you’d be shooting the system in the foot.
Or can he?
Maybe they were so blinded by Bailey’s obvious talent in any role he plays that they forgot he was gay until it was too late, hence the need to state his sexual orientation so insistently?
In the not so distant past being openly gay would seriously damage an actor’s career. No one would cast him in a romantic lead role and even if he did land the role, no woman would found him plausible or convincing if they caught wind he was gay. Women wouldn’t be able to see the actor, only the gay man, or so executives thought, and therefore bye bye to ticket sales and revenue profits.
For what it’s worth, a whole industry being so dependent on someone’s bedding preferences seems somewhat silly. Our Johnny has managed to escape such limiting beliefs through sheer passion for his craft and talent.
That’s the only plausible explanation for why the media are making such a fuss about Bailey’s sexual orientation. I’m not yet sure if this is meant to convey a positive message (look, you can be gay, a great actor, and sexiest man alive all at once!) or a bit of a covert shock (people, he’s GAY!!! I repeat, he’s GAY!!!!).
If anything, headlines should be remarking he is the first openly sexy and talented recipient of the decade and in a long while, but if this has served for mass media to catch up on a truth universally acknowledged, that is women having a crash on Jonathan Bailey since Bridgerton premiered on Netflix on that remote Christmas of 2020, so be it.
On that note, let’s please hold a minute of silence for Shonda Rhimes and Julia Quinn in respect for how they gave us what we craved in a very dark time: Highly unrealistic male leads obsessed with female pleasure.
And let’s not forget that Andrew Scott’s3 Hot Priest walked so that Jonathan Bailey’s Anthony Bridgerton could run4. Anyway, I’m glad People’s Magazine has mended the wrongs of the past and that, as Bailey himself stated on receiving the news, this has finally gone to someone who can appreciate a sexy man. Oh, Johnny, you slutty little bitch.
Being crowned the sexiest man alive is, with all due respect for Jonathan and any previous winner, a bit of a joke. The aim is to keeping people entertained (possibly by writing about it like I’m doing and reading said pieces like you’re doing), getting social media traction (I doubt People’s Magazine do this to sell any actual magazines), and crucially putting bums on movie theaters when the latest release from the sexiest man alive eventually comes around. Which in the case of Bailey is Wicked: For Good where he’ll reprise the role of Prince Fiyero at the end of November.
Therefore the recognition should not be taken too seriously. In fact, the appropriate reaction is that of Benedict Cumberbatch when he received the same distinction back in 2013 at the height of his fame as Sherlock.
Kudos to Jonathan Bailey for channeling that spirit, having a good laugh about it, and using the media attention to share his passion for acting, encouraging people to embrace who they truly are, and championing causes he cares about. Which is what he’s been doing before being named the sexiest man alive anyway.
Having said that, and because we’re here already and I don’t know about you but I have no better plans for the evening, in that same spirit of lightness, let’s discuss how Jonathan Bailey has got here and, while we’re at it, let’s take a look at Jacob Elordi, who could be his worthy successor in 2026.
Jonathan Bailey, (first openly gay, lest we forget) Sexiest Man Alive 2025
Long before the staff of People Magazine woke up to the facts, Jonathan Bailey was, if not the sexiest man alive (because that’s a continuum and it fluctuates), at least among the top 10. Easily.
In fact, he took sexiness to stratospheric highs with one sentence. To be precise this one: “You are the bane of my existence and the object of all my desires”
Rumour has it the incessant replay of this scene across the globe provoked a ripple effect by which thousands of female viewers reported their knickers magically went down to the floor as soon as Bailey finished the sentence. The laws of physics probably can’t explain this phenomenon in a rational way but luckily for you, dear reader, I can.
It’s what happens when you have not only a great male lead written by a woman but a highly charismatic and openly talented actor delivering the seduction goods as if he couldn’t wait a second longer to get a mouthful of them. Few straight actors, not to mention regular men off screen, have managed to pull off something as remotely as exciting as this. So much for being implausible as a heterosexual romantic interest when you are an openly gay actor.
We witnessed the magic unfold in Season 2 of Netflix’s record-breaking show Bridgerton, where Jonathan Bailey played the emotionally restrained Anthony Bridgerton, a man consumed with burning desire for his future sister-in-law Kate Sharma. So far, so forbidden love. Bailey’s portrayal tells you what a phenomenal actor he is in first place but also how charisma -in his case on and off screen- is the greatest asset at your disposal to seduce your audience regardless of your sexual orientation.
Because , you see, that’s the word that comes to mind when Jonathan Bailey’s name is mentioned. Charisma. A very rare and intangible quality that it’s hard to bottle but which you can immediately notice when it’s present as well as lacking in someone.
It’s what makes all the difference when delivering a sentence than in the lips of a lesser actor, no matter how attractive and openly heterosexual, would sound cringey and pronounced by any other man outside of a film set would prompt a call to 911 and a kick to the balls. However, Jonathan Bailey transforms a potential recipe for romantic disaster into the epitome of longing and unresolved sexual tension in a way that any woman couldn’t wait to see resolved asap.
Surely that’s where his talent as an actor shows but also his undeniable magnetic charm carries the audience away from the actor as a man and into the character he is playing in the blink of an eye.
Unlike the clothes-averse Duke of Hastings (portrayed by Regé-Jean Page in season 1 of Bridgerton), Jonathan Bailey carried the whole season 2 on his shoulders without barely showing any skin until the very end, to the exasperation of many fans myself included. Instead, he had to rely on a mixture of pursed lips, frown eyebrows, shortened sideburns, hushed irritation, half-finished sentences, stolen moments, and deathly stares that spoke louder than words to show the all-consuming fire that burnt inside him every time he locked eyes with Kate Sharma, played with exquisite grace, matching longing, and contained desire by Simone Ashley5.
The chemistry between the two of them was so electric that even if this was one of those instances where any real spark between co-stars was off the table, you couldn’t believe it. But that’s the JB effect. He lights up the room, lightens up the mood, builds rapport with anyone in no time, creating the illusion of a genuine (I’m not saying it’s not in that moment) deep bond and sparking romance rumors with every attractive woman he kisses. Oh well, that is charisma, a very powerful tool in an industry where everything is smoke and mirrors and pretend is the name of the game.
While Jonathan Bailey had been a well established and acclaimed actor with an Oliver Award6 under his belt before Bridgerton, the show has put his acting talent on the global radar and he has been on an acting roll ever since, showing his versatility in a wide range of parts, including the acclaimed Fellow Travelers, where he played opposite Matthew Boomer in this forbidden love story between two homosexual men in McCarthy’s America. Boomer, by the way, has already congratulated his fellow co-star on his latest achievement.
Contrary to what the industry may have you believe until very recently, the recognition Bailey received for this role, including an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor, didn’t prevent him from landing the role of Prince Fiyero in Wicked, who is the love interest of Elphaba (played by Cynthia Erivo), the future Wicked Witch of the West.
A role, in fact, Bailey sent an audition tape for during his five minute call in the West End play Cock, where he starred opposite Taron Eggerton. Because at the end of the day that’s what any openly talented actor does regardless of their sexual orientation: They convince you they are whoever they are playing, whether a gay man in a doomed romance/ long-term partnership, or a prince charming in a magical world with a penchant for singing and dancing through life mid-conversation.
With Wicked: For Good coming to cinemas on 21st November, we have a lot of press interviews to look forward to where the fact that Johnny B has been crowned sexiest man alive will be no doubt brought up. Jeff Goldblum is already having a great time celebrating his co-star. And with a new season of Bridgerton fast approaching in early 2026, get ready for a double dose of Bailey’s cream, Jeff Goldblum words not mine.
It is worth mentioning that charismatic actors like Bailey are very dangerous because they will drag you to the mud with them and will make you do things you would have never imagined capable of.
For instance going to the cinema for a screening of Jurassic World Rebirth, the latest installment in a franchise I didn’t even know existed because I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to watch again the same movie after 1993 let alone produce it. I blame it on Jonathan Bailey’s charisma. He decided to put on some glasses for his character and all of a sudden he’s no longer playing a nerdy paleontologist in a totally unnecessary franchise I can live without seeing but a man that has single-handedly kicked off the slutty little glasses summer of love and I want in. Charisma, as you can see, is a bitch that force you to watch terribly forgettable movies and won’t even say thank you when you’re done.
But it’s not all dark and gloomy.
On the bright side, Jonathan Bailey’s magnetism is the reason I have finally gone to see my first Shakespeare play this year, Richard II, where he played the lead title.
However, when it comes to Shakespeare, of whom I’m not a big fan, charisma will open the door but you won’t get me into one of his plays without having some serious acting game going on, on top of your chiseled good looks. Unfortunately for me, Jonathan Bailey possesses both in substantial quantities so I had to oblige.
Did I understand anything of what was going on? Not really because when you’re not an English native speaker there is a big divide between Shakespeare’s spoken vs written English. Who would have thought? Anyway, Jonathan Bailey walked past me a couple of times as he made his way back and forth to the stage and I didn’t need an interpreter to appreciate his talent nor why he is the fair winner of the sexiest man alive this year.
Jacob Elordi, aka The Creature, aka Sexy Beast with a soul
Jacob Elordi has been a usual suspect of the sexiest men alive rankings for a bit.
It goes with the job: as an openly straight young actor with an imposing physique it’s a rite of passage. It is surely flattering but it can get in the way of being taken seriously beyond playing the tokenistic eye candy hunks in whatever script that gets send your way. Which for Elordi has been the norm until now.
In fact, I hadn’t really cared much for him either as a representative of the masculine gender or as an actor, not even after Saltburn. While I didn’t hate Emerald Fennell’s shambolic tale of privilege and homoerotic desire gone very wrong, when I was confronted with Elordi’s sun-kissed, indulgent, patrician beauty, it didn’t move me nor provoke in me the desire of wanting to drink his bath water or dry thump the soil that covered his grave with quiet desperation. I’m cold-hearted like that apparently.
However, I have found him extremely alluring and affecting as the creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein adaptation, which I saw a few days ago at the cinema. His interactions with Oscar Isaac are a delight to watch as they masterfully navigate with ease the cloudy waters that push them from the purest form of father-son love to the dynamics of an abusive relationship or the desire to dominate something you are secretly afraid of and wished you had never created. For in the hands of Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein is not a horror film but a family drama.
Elordi’s portrayal of the creature melted the iceberg where my heart is usually held. I was moved watching him bring to life what is a composite of human existence in such a gentle and exquisite way. The most surprising aspect of his performance is that I found myself also slightly aroused by it. It turns out I am not alone in thinking that Jacob Elordi’s hot monster may be one of the year’s best performances.
For all her attempts at capturing Elordi’s attractiveness in suffused ambient lighting and moonlight excesses, Saltburn presented too perfect a blueprint of a young man for me to be interested in him. His Felix was bland, boring, and lacking any real depth as a character. Elordi’s natural beauty and talent could do nothing to ingratiate me with a poorly written role that was an excuse to set the story in motion and did little for Elordi to avoid being typecast as eye candy. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t warm up to him as an actor until a few days ago.
Under the tight script and carefully designed prosthetics in del Toro’s film, Elordi appeared to me for the first time as a man worth of my attention. Or more precisely, his character did once Elordi disappeared into it after the 10-hours it took to make him look like that. It is the invisible wounds he carries, I realised when I left the cinema, what makes him the most compelling character in the film. The contrast with the unblemished existence of his character in Saltburn is what makes this performance interesting. Like Emma Stone in Poor Things, Elordi is able to convey with credibility the extreme marvel he feels at his surroundings despite his imposing physique.
Being attracted more to the creature than to any other human character in the film didn’t catch me by surprise. I started 2025 watching Nosferatu and being totally mesmerized by it, to the point I went back to the cinema three times. So there was already a gothic imprint in my mind that perhaps predetermined me to enjoy the much more human-adjacent creature incarnated by Elordi, who unlike Nosferatu is full of life to the point he can’t barely contain it within himself.
The other thing I remarked is that Elordi, a man blessed with a body and face not often seen around since the days when the golden ratio dictated the measurements of perfectly chiseled Ancient Greek sculptures, was perhaps an unusual choice to portray a monster. And yet one of the things this new adaptation of Mary Shelly’s classic does very well is not to hide his delicate features and instead use them to infuse humanity into a character that could have otherwise verged into the grotesque without offering any space for real depth. The result is the most beautiful monster I’ve ever had lucid dreams about.
Forget Saltburn and that infamous bathtub scene. Frankenstein is where Elordi is a true sexy beast, literally. His deep and strategically syncopated voice infuses soul and warmth to his character while his delicate facial features are allowed to mesh with the patchwork of stitches that adorns his skin all over his Herculean body. The Greek sculpture emerging underneath the wreckage, a gothic version of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, incomplete and damaged yet movingly delicate and strikingly impressive to anyone who has the chance to contemplate it.
His Felix lacked everything his creature in Frankenstein ozes: pathos, rawness, pureness, despair, the ability to feel deeply for those around him and, most surprisingly, the effortless innocence that one can only find in children and which is the more affecting for being hosted inside such a gigantic and frightening body. And yes, charisma, which pulls you close to keep your eyes on him at all time and care about what happens to him.
The justapoxition of the internal and external elements Elordi plays with to bring the creature gradually to life as we learn about his own experience of the world shows his intelligence and sensibility as an actor, which have filtered through to his character. A reminder to never judge a book by its cover, however beautiful or ugly it may appear to us at first glance.
One cannot be horrified by nor repelled by Elordi’s creature because it is a vessel to contain all that is pure in the world, even though it doesn’t get noticed on first sight. Once again the external appearance and perception clouding what lies within. Removed from the safety net of his usually lovely external shell, Elordi has to dig deeper to seduce us as spectators so we can side with him and understand his plight, which he accomplishes thanks to the excellent work of the design team, a solid script and a nuanced performance that captures the fragility that even the toughest-looking among us are capable of hiding under layers of steel armour. The Australian actor has revealed that his sensitive golden retriever inspired his performance.
Nominations for major awards will surely be raining on him for his role and I’d be surprised if Elordi doesn’t walk out of award season with an Oscar under his belt. Not as exciting as being crowned sexiest man alive but if he times his future projects right for 2026, he may be in with a chance to bag that one too.
It’s not lost on me, however, that I’ve been converted to Elordi’s dramatic and physical charms right when he looks the least like his usual self. But I have a soft spot for talent, in whichever shape it presents itself. If it comes in the haphazardly assembled prototype of a meta-human, so be it. I can’t be worse than sitting through a Shakespeare play of which I barely understand a word.
However, I stand by my statement that openly talented actors are dangerous creatures and one should keep their metaphoric distance as continuous exposure to their work, especially when it’s of a high standard, can make one change their mind about the most obnoxious things.
Such as considering watching Priscilla or, brace yourselves, tremble with anticipation for what Emerald Fennell’s upcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation has in store for us despite initial screenings with test audiences delivered mixed reactions.
Because here’s my prerogative: After having seen Elordi’s masterful performance in Frankenstein, I have no doubts his physicality will definitely make of him a dashing Heathcliff, but also the fact that he is an openly talented actor with a wide range of tools to survive being pushed inside the closet of hunk territory once again in what can potentially be another missed opportunity for Emerald Fennell to allow him to show us his acting chops, not only his toned abs.
As a suggestion, perhaps following the “bane of my existence and object of all my desires” school of contained longing teachings couId yield excellent results. If it was good enough to make us swoon for a full season and has catapulted Jonathan Bailey to (first openly gay) sexiest man alive in 2025, it should do the trick to keep us glued to the screen for Elordi’s and Robbie’s doomed romance.
Although a glimpse at the official trailer reveals that unbridled desire to the thumping beat of Charlie XCX tunes seems to be the name of the game. In case there were any doubts about the direction of travel, Emerald Fennell has shared she wants her adaptation to provoke a primal response, similar to what she experienced when she first read Brontë’s novel. No chance Elordi’s golden retriever gave him any pointers this time around. Better this way.
For Jacob Elordi’s talent I’m ready to weather whatever unhinged Brat Summer storm Fennell throws at me in her Wuthering Heights adaptation as long as it comes wrapped in a vehicle that gives Elordi’s Herculean frame, subtle emotions, clear intelligence, and charismatic presence room to maneuver and take the audience along with him and Margot Robbie.
Here’s hoping for a good screenplay that does justice to everyone involved and limits casualties because at the time being this looks messier than Victor Frankeinstein’s operating room. As Elordi shared recently during the press for Frankenstein, there is no need to suffer when making a film.
On the other hand, no one said becoming People’s Magazine sexiest man alive in 2026 would be an easy road. Look at Jonathan Bailey. It took him to be openly gay to get there.
Abroad is an independent publication about London, living in between cultures, creativity, and being human in the age of artificial intelligence.
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For some reason this recognition is only reserved for actors. Sorry sexy phlebotomists of the world.
Unless you’ve been to see Oasis, which was an absolute blast.
Who by the way has been robbed twice: Once for not being given the title of sexiest man alive while at his peak as Hot Priest in Fleabag and another for not being nominated for a BAFTA for his outstanding performance in All of Us Strangers.
Funnily enough, before Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag catapulted Andrew Scott to global fame, she wrote Crashing, where Jonathan Bailey also was one of the leads.
I once bumped into her outside a theatre in Leicester Square and she is absolutely gorgeous. I swear her skin was glowing in a way I’ve never seen before. I might have been blinded by my girl crush on her as this was the same year season 2 was released but I really think it was her skin.
Which he won in 2019 for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for his performance in the musical Company.
Must catch up on Bridgerton, watch Frankenstein and look forward to Wuthering Heights. Fantastically entertaining and absorbing writing once more Cristina, thank you
Popping back, Cristina, to say that I was so moved by Frankenstein, which I saw on Netflix a couple of nights ago. Thanks for effusing about it, which was one of my prompts to watch sharpish. Agree about Jacob Elordi – he brought such beauty and pathos to the role of the "monster". I didn't recognise him from Saltburn, which is of course the sign of a good actor. Not just the prosthetics but everything about his demeanour was different. I didn't think he was bad in Saltburn, mind you – he played entitled posh British totty perfectly, I thought. Looking forward to Wuthering Heights now!
I didn't like Nosferatu, though. Finally got round to watching it a couple of weeks ago and found it too hammy. Didn't grab me at all. But hey! The world would be very boring if we agreed on everything!