Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney opens up about filming Cassie’s season 2 breakdown in a hot tub. Written and directed by series creator Sam Levinson, Euphoria season 2 highlighted how Rue (Zendaya) continued to struggle with addiction, even as it threatened to tear her life apart. The show also delved deeper into the parents in the teen drama, examing Cal (Eric Dane) as a supposed family man that has been dealing with internalized homophobia and gradually fraying at the edges. Mixed in with these heavy storylines, viewers also saw the relatively more lighthearted love triangle involving Cassie (Sweeney), Nate (Jacob Elordi), and Maddy (Alexa Demie).
At least for a time, Euphoria looked to Cassie’s newfound relationship with Nate for a bit of humor. This was perhaps most evident in Euphoria season 2, episode 4. Titled “You Who Cannot See, Think of Those Who Can,” the episode includes a scene where Cassie joins her best friend Maddy and Maddy’s ex-boyfriend, Nate, in a hot tub. Considering Cassie’s been secretly dating Nate, the atmosphere quickly becomes awkward. Burdened by her secret, Cassie ends up vomiting in the middle of an argument between Maddy and Nate. In a new interview, Sweeney recalls that filming the scene was pretty gross.
Speaking with THR, Sweeney was asked about the most challenging scene to film in Euphoria season 2. The actress responded by going into detail about Cassie’s eruption of emotion in episode 4, detailing what went into filming her character’s breakdown and why she had to hold a tube in her mouth. Sweeney’s quote is included below.
“I feel like I personally thrive and thoroughly enjoy very difficult, emotional up and down roller coaster scenes of Cassie. And the ones I had the hardest time with was in the hot tub with all the girls and Nate because I actually had to hold this tube in my mouth that was getting pumped with fake throw up. And I had to hold it in my mouth as my mouth was getting filled with God knows what and act as if nothing was happening. I’m a very picky eater, so there was random stuff getting put into my mouth and I know that that was the most difficult.’”
Cassie spent the bulk of Euphoria season 2 in an almost continuous state of emotional distress. The character’s anxiety over lying to her best friend, not to mention Nate’s fleeting attention towards her, gained so much traction that Succession star Brian Cox parodied Cassie during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show. Sweeney notes that she enjoyed her character’s turbulent journey, but her comments also shed light on the unexpected difficulties of maintaining a performance that is almost always on the brink of collapse.
What the show has done well, and what will be important to keep in mind for Euphoria season 3, is that sense of balance. After turning to Cassie and Maddy for comedy throughout eight episodes, the HBO drama illustrates that the love triangle was more about Cassie and Maddy’s fading friendship and the different lives they see for themselves after high school. It’s a potentially fertile ground to explore when the series returns. And, hopefully, the cast will continue to deliver some absurdly chaotic scenes as well.
Source: THR