Sydney Sweeney has some thoughts about stripping down for the camera.
As fans of Euphoria know, the 24-year-old has more than her share of topless scenes throughout the first two seasons. While speaking about the popular HBO show in a new interview with The Independent, Sweeney opened up about filming the nude scenes, specifically how she found baring it all has been something of a speed bump for her career. In fact, she told the outlet that critics still pass over her tour-de-force performance as Cassie on the teen drama — and she thinks it’s because she’s showing too much skin:
“With The White Lotus, I felt like people were finally recognizing the hard work I’ve been doing. This is something that has bothered me for a while. I’m very proud of my work in Euphoria. I thought it was a great performance. But no one talks about it because I got naked. I do The White Lotus and all of a sudden critics are paying attention. People are loving me. They’re going, ‘Oh my God, what’s she doing next?’ I was like, ‘Did you not see that in Euphoria? Did you not see that in The Handmaid’s Tale?’”
Inneresting…
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Sweeney believes there is “a stigma against actresses who get naked on screen,” adding:
“When a guy has a sex scene or shows his body, he still wins awards and gets praise. But the moment a girl does it, it’s completely different.”
Hmm…
What is even worse is that the Sharp Objects alum has had her nude scenes used to bully her online. Recalling how people shared screenshots of those intimate moments on social media and tagged her brother, Trent Sweeney, she explained:
“That was the most hurtful thing that anybody could do. What I do is completely separate from my family. My character is completely separate to me. It’s just so disrespectful and distressing.”
As for how she handles being hypersexualized, she shrugged:
“You just get used to it.”
Despite this, Sweeney is still willing to film nude scenes on Euphoria. However, there have been a few instances when the script called for more nudity than she was comfortable with, and she asked to have them nixed. Thankfully, series creator Sam Levinson has been receptive to her concerns and removed some of the nudity in the latest season. Sweeney shared:
“There are moments where [my character] Cassie was supposed to be shirtless and I would tell Sam, ‘I don’t really think that’s necessary here.’ He was like, ‘OK, we don’t need it.’ I’ve never felt like Sam has pushed it on me or was trying to get a nude scene into an HBO show. When I didn’t want to do it, he didn’t make me.”
Unfortunately, not all of her experiences with nudity have been as great as on the set of Euphoria — which has an intimacy coordinator who helps out with the NSFW moments. In the interview, Sweeney admitted that on other projects she didn’t always feel empowered enough to speak up about how uncomfortable she was with certain nude scenes at times, saying:
“I’ve had experiences where I want to go home and scrub myself completely raw because I feel disgusting. I didn’t feel comfortable with my cast mate or the crew, and I just didn’t feel like my character would be doing it. That made me even more self-conscious. I didn’t feel like I was able to speak up.”
Sadly, many other stars have also experienced moments on set where they felt they couldn’t speak up for themselves in uncomfortable situations — especially during nude scenes. Many people in Hollywood could take a page out of Levinson’s book and respect an actor’s wishes more in this regard.
What do you think about Sydney’s thoughts on how the nude scenes on Euphoria have impacted her career? Let us know in the comments (below).
[Image via HBO Max.]
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