Sydney Sweeney means it when she says that Sam Levinson is "respectful" of the Euphoria cast.
She tried to convey that message when she spoke to The Independent in January about season two's numerous nude scenes, saying that the writer-director "didn't make" her undress if she didn't want to. However, people were more concerned about the fact that there was originally supposed to be even more nudity, with headlines like "Sydney Sweeney Asked to Cut Unnecessary Nude Scenes From Euphoria" appearing online at the time.
But Sydney said that people missed the point of what she was actually trying to say. "I never asked him to cut any scenes," she explained in Teen Vogue's New Hollywood edition, published on Monday, March 14. "It got twisted and turned and it became its own beast, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God.'"
In reality, Sydney was trying to communicate "how respectful Sam is and how incredible of a director he is, that he would never make me do something I didn't feel comfortable with."
And Sydney feels that Sam has used nudity as a storytelling device, saying, "I think it's important to the storyline and the character."
"We show this character's life and what they're going through," she continued. "Cassie's body is a different form of communication for her."
Unlike Sydney, Minka Kelly and Chloe Cherry previously shared that they were supposed to strip down for their appearances but asked Sam to reconsider allowing their characters to remain clothed. The Friday Night Lights actress said of Sam's reaction, "He didn't even hesitate. And he shot a beautiful scene and got exactly what he wanted."
And their male counterparts have also defended the director, with Eric Dane and Jacob Elordi saying that the nudity makes sense in the context of the show.
Jacob went so far as to say that he hasn't had the same experience on other sets, joking that he's "done some movies where it gets to the point where it's like, he goes to the mall shirtless. And you're like, why?"
Moreover, the stars are provided an intimacy coordinator, who Jacob has described as a "second mother."
And at the end of the day, Sydney reminds Teen Vogue readers, "We all get naked in real life."