Sydney Sweeney refused to tone down her raunchy scenes in the third season of Euphoria.
Sydney Sweeney refused to tone down her saucy scenes in Euphoria
In the latest series of the hit show, the actress’ character Cassie becomes a model on X-rated website OnlyFans and creator Sam Levinson toyed with the idea of scrapping the nudity in one particular montage sequence which showed her in various states of undress, but Sydney dismissed the plan.
During an appearance on the New York Times’ Popcast podcast, writer/director Sam explained: “Well, it’s funny. When I first wrote it, I thought, “Well, maybe we shoot all of this and we don’t have any nudity.
“I was talking to her, and you know, [I said]: ‘Maybe there’s ways to shoot around certain things?’ She looked at me, and she was like: ‘Are you kidding? It’s like, I’m playing an OnlyFans model. You’re telling me you’re going to, like, skirt around it?’
“And I was like: ‘Yeah, OK, it’s a fair point’. So there’s always a discussion of what works best for the character.”
Sam went on to praise Sydney as a “totally fearless actor” adding that she was “wonderfully professional” and showed up “game every day”.
He added: “I adore working with her, because there’s such a flexibility in terms of the performance.”
Speaking about the OnlyFans scenes – which have shown Sydney’s character dressed as a baby, wearing a leash like a dog and posing in a nude bodysuit with a python wrapped around her – he said: “We’re tackling this world of OnlyFans where women are being paid to, like, whisper into an ear-shaped microphone and lick it. There is a level of absurdity to it that is just fun.”
Sam went on to defend the show’s saucy elements in the third series, insisting all the actors feel “free and safe” on the set.
He said: “I believe very strongly that the best, most honest performances are when an actor feels free and safe. That’s how you get a great performance.
“You can’t if there is any tension, [because] the emotion that is going to be blocked. And that’s something I’ve known from my days of studying acting.”
Sydney – who is dating Scooter Braun – also seemingly called out critics of her sexy scenes in the show by sharing a number of pictures from the set on her Instagram page and writing: “It’s called … acting.”
