Sydney Sweeney on ‘Euphoria’s’ Nude Scenes: ‘I Won’t Stop Doing Them’
Euphoria Season 2 has come and gone, but fans are still talking about Sydney Sweeney. The actor gave an outstanding performance in the show’s sophomore season, earning her an Emmy nod. Her character, Cassie Howard, blew up the Internet, inspiring hilarious memes that are still being used daily. But Sweeney has also been at the epicenter of conversations about the show’s nude scenes. Many people have expressed concern for the actor and feel that her sex scenes are gratuitous.
Sam Levinson has received criticism for the many nude scenes in ‘Euphoria’
Sam Levinson (Euphoria’s writer, creator, director, and showrunner) received quite a bit of flack for Euphoria Season 2. Minka Kelly, Chloe Cherry, and Sweeney herself all revealed that initially, Levinson had written even more nude scenes into the show. The Players Table producer explained that she told Levinson that she felt uncomfortable with being nude for some of the scenes, and he immediately changed them. However, some people felt that Levinson’s insistence that his teenage characters get naked so much was cause for alarm.
Sydney Sweeney has shared that she always feels safe filming sex scenes for ‘Euphoria’
For her part, Sweeney has been candid that she’s never felt uncomfortable on the set of Euphoria. She works with an intimacy coordinator and signs off on any and all nude scenes. Furthermore, she shares that Levinson would never make her do anything that she was uncomfortable with. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she once again championed Levinson.
“I fully trust in the filmmakers that I work with, and I’m always so excited for whatever Sam writes,” Sweeney explained. Continuing on, she shared that she plans to continue doing nude scenes for Euphoria if they are written for her, and she deems them appropriate. However, the double Emmy nominee reveals that she wishes the assumptions about actors who do nudity would shift. She explained that it can be hard for people to separate her from the characters that she plays.
The Emmy nominee has no plans to stop doing nude scenes
“People forget that I’m playing a character,” Sweeney explained. “They think, ‘Oh, she gets naked onscreen, she’s a sex symbol.’ And I can’t get past that. I have no problems with those scenes, and I won’t stop doing them, but I wish there was an easier way to have an open conversation about what we’re assuming about actors in the industry.”
Perhaps it will be Sweeney herself who is able to inspire more open dialogue about nude scenes in the entertainment industry. In 2020, the Sharp Objects alum started her own production company, Fifty-Fifty Films, and plans to put women-led stories at the forefront of film and TV. Considering her first project, The Players Table, explores sexual politics amongst high school students, maybe Sweeney will help facilitate the discussion she’s hoping for.
