Films

On Swift Horses: Jacob Elordi and Diego Calva to share “emotional and explicit” love scenes

By Jordan Robledo

7th September 2024

Jacob Elordi and Diego Calva’s new LGBTQIA+ drama is set to be very steamy and explicit.

Back in February 2023, Deadline revealed that the Euphoria star and Babylon actor would be playing lovers in the new film On Swift Horses.

The news outlet also confirmed that Daisy Edgar-Jones, Will Poulter and Sasha Calle were attached to the project.

Based on the novel by Shannon Pufahl and set in the 1950s, On Swift Horses follows newlyweds Muriel (Edgar-Jones) and Lee (Poulter), who decide to leave Kansas City to start a new life in San Diego, California.

However, their plans are turned upside down when Lee’s younger brother Julius (Elordi), a Korean War veteran and wayward gambler, enters the picture and has an undeniable spark with his new sister-in-law.

Amid their budding love triangle, the trio split up, with Muriel and Lee heading to San Diego and Julius traveling to Las Vegas. When he arrives in Sin City, Julius secures work at a casino and starts a romantic relationship with a hustler named Henry (Calva).  

Muriel also undergoes a journey of self-discovery by secretly gambling on racehorses and forming an intense connection with her new neighbour, Sandra (Calle).

Ahead of On Swift Horse’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Vanity Fair spilt all the tea on the film in a first-look feature – teasing that Calva and Elordi share “several rich, emotional, and explicit love scenes.”

“We had a week of intensive [prep] in the motel room, and [director] Dan [Minahan] gave us a lot of freedom to run around and to play and to find that love within those four walls,” Calva added in a interview with the news outlet.

While Elordi remained mum on their steamy love scenes, he revealed that a specific set of films helped him tap into Julius’ brooding spirit.

“I just watched Paul Newman’s movies and tried to build a voice around the way that he spoke, and movement around the way he moved – because he has a great sensitivity in his steely output there,” he explained to Vanity Fair.

Lastly, Edgar-Jones confirmed to the publication that the film is “wonderfully queer,” adding: “Dan was really helpful in guiding that and making sure that we were also being authentic to that period and that experience.”

While a wider release date for On Swift Horses has yet to be announced, fans have already expressed excitement for Calva and Elordi’s on-screen romance.

One fan on X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote: “‘Explicit love scenes’ I won I’m crying.”

Another user commented: “I’m seated. The theater employees are scared and asking me to leave because it’s ‘2025 yet’ but I’m simply too seated.”

A third fan added: “This is not a DRILL I repeat! This is not a DRILL!”

Check out more first-look photos from On Swift Horses here.