Sydney Sweeney didn’t want to “skirt around” any nudity when it came to her Euphoria season 3 story line, according to the show’s creator, Sam Levinson.
“When I first wrote it … I thought, ‘Well, maybe, we shoot all of this, and we don’t have any nudity,’” Levinson, 41, said during the Monday, June 1, episode of The New York Times’ “Popcast” podcast. “I was talking to her about, maybe, there’s ways to shoot around certain [things] — and she looked at me, and she’s like, ‘Are you kidding? I’m playing an OnlyFans model.’”
Levinson made it clear that he “always” has a discussion with actors about “what works best for the character.” Sweeney, 28, wasn’t afraid to take any risks.
“I think she’s a totally fearless actor. She’s also just wonderfully professional, and shows up just game every day,” he continued. “I adore working with her, because there’s such a flexibility in terms of the performance.”
Levinson said there’s “a lot of trust” between him and Sweeney.
“I can say, ‘Why don’t we try this scene just a little crazier, with a little more humor.’ Suddenly, this whole other version of the scene can come out just based on her performance,” he added. “We’re tackling this world of OnlyFans where women are being paid to whisper into an ear-shaped microphone and lick it. There is a level of absurdity to it that is just fun.”
While other story lines had a more definitive end during the Sunday, May 31, season finale, Sweeney’s was left open-ended with her final scene taking place alongside Maude Apatow. Cassie (Sweeney) was washing her sex toys while her sister, Lexi (Apatow), got emotional over Rue’s (Zendaya) death.
Ahead of Sunday’s episode, Sweeney took to Instagram with several behind-the-scenes photos from the show’s final season.
“It’s called… acting,” she captioned the post, which included a nearly nude photo. (Sweeney’s topless scenes received widespread criticism throughout the season.)
Levison previously addressed fan backlash to Sweeney’s NSFW story line during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in April.
“[Cassie] has got her dog house and her little dog ears and the nose, and that has its own humor,” he said at the time. “But what makes the scene is the fact that her housekeeper is the one filming it.”
He added, “What we wanted to always find is the other layer of absurdity that we’re able to tie into it so that we’re not too inside of her fantasy or illusion. The gag is to jump out, to break the wall.”
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