Minka Kelly Admits She Was Uncomfortable With ‘Euphoria’ Scene N@ked
In an interview with Vanity Fair, actress Minka Kelly confessed that she was asked to go n-de on her first day of filming on Euphoria. She said she ended up telling the show’s writer and director, Sam Levinson, that they had to change the script.
The scene takes place in the second season of the HBO hit, in which Kelly’s character Samantha asks teenage babysitter Maddy, played by Alexa Demie, to help her unzip her dress.
“Levinson]thought it would be more interesting if my dress fell on the floor,” Kelly said. “It was my first day as a guest on this new show, and I just didn’t feel comfortable being there naked.”
Fortunately, Levinson was willing to make adjustments based on Kelly’s comfort level.
“I said, ‘I would love to do this scene, but I think we can keep my dress. He was like, “Okay!” He didn’t even hesitate. And he shot a great scene and got exactly what he wanted,” she explained.
Nudity has been a big topic on Euphoria, which frequently features naked bodies in a way that doesn’t necessarily advance the storyline. One of the show’s main characters, Cassie, has been topless several times this season. The 24-year-old actress who plays her, Sydney Sweeney, said in an interview with The Independent last month that many n-de scenes were actually toned down at her request.
“Sam is amazing,” Sweeney said. “There were times when Cassie was supposed to be shirtless and I was like, ‘I don’t really think that’s needed here.’ Sam was like, ‘OK, we don’t need it.’ “Never felt like Sam forced it on me or tried to fit an n-de scene into an HBO show. When I didn’t want to, he didn’t force me to.”
Chloe Cherry, who plays new character Faye in Season 2, also says she asked Levinson to change a scene that was supposed to be n-de in an interview with The Daily Beast. In the episode, Faye witnesses someone being shot and covered in blood, then is helped into a vent to hide by her co-star Tyler Chase, playing Faye’s boyfriend Custer.
“Sam wanted to do the scene with me completely n@ked and Tyler was like, ‘That’s a lot,’ so they decided not to,” Cherry said. “But I was covered in fake blood and it felt so good to be on set.”
