Jacob Elordi just cannot get away from The Kissing Booth, no matter how hard he tries — and Joey King has some thoughts. The Netflix adaptation was one of his first breakout roles, but he doesn't look back at that era of his career with pride or affection.
The opposite, actually; Elordi recently called the movie and its sequels “ridiculous," and now his former costar (and former girlfriend) Joey King is speaking out on their behalf. “I think it’s unfortunate anyone would feel that way,” King told Variety when asked about Elordi's criticism. “I had a great time making those movies no matter what anyone says.”
Elordi has been disparaging the Kissing Booth franchise for years, most recently in his GQ Man of the Year interview. “I didn’t want to make those movies before I made those movies,” he said. “Those movies are ridiculous. They’re not universal. They’re an escape.” In 2022, he said the movies and the increased paparazzi attention almost made him quit acting entirely, and in 2020, he shared that the movies gave him an existential crisis of sorts. (He did make three of them, though, so that's not nothing.)
King isn't the only one standing up for the Kissing Booth. Taylor Zakhar Perez, who starred in the second movie, defended them to Variety in November. “I thought it was a shame because to my knowledge, everybody else had such a wonderful experience,” he shared.“It’s a shame that was his experience on the set. I know from our fan interactions, getting stopped everywhere I go, what Kissing Booth means to people and what it brought them during such a dark time. I guess the silver lining is he still made people laugh and feel good.”
King also added that she'd be down for a fourth movie in the series, but the plot would be quite a bit different from the original trio. “If there were to be a fourth installment it would be picking up where Elle and the gang are in their 50s or something, just to drop back in with them and see where they’re at," King shared. Sounds fun, but Elordi probably won't be back to play Noah, even 30 years from now.