The actress recently opened up about her experiences with joining the HBO series' second season.
When it comes to pushing the envelope with sexuality and depictions of emotional trauma, Euphoria has been at the top of its class. But that doesn't mean the series is looking to make its stars feel uncomfortable.
Recently, Minka Kelly sat down for an interview with Vanity Fair and revealed exactly how her discomfort with one planned nude scene led to a rewrite by writer-creator Sam Levinson.
Kelly joined the HBO drama in the second season as Samantha, a wealthy would-be mentor of sorts to Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie), whom she hires as a babysitter for her son.
According to Kelly, she signed on with the expectation of it being for a single episode, but her chemistry with Demie led to Levinson stretching the role out to something more significant that spanned the rest of the second season.
However, on her very first day on set, Kelly said that there was one scene that she asked to have changed because she didn't feel right about the level of nudity involved. The scene in question, which was the second episode of season two, saw Samantha asking Maddy to help her unzip her purple dress.
While the scene already had intentionally disquieting sexual undertones, Kelly said the original planned version of the scene was even more risqué.
"[Levinson] thought it would be more interesting if my dress fell to the ground," Kelly said, recalling that she strongly disagreed with the direction.
"That was my first day as a guest on this new show, and I just didn't feel comfortable standing there naked," she shared. Ultimately, the scene was changed to not include the dress falling to the floor.
"I said, 'I’d love to do this scene, but I think we can keep my dress on,'" Kelly reflected. "[Levinson] was like, ‘OK!’ He didn’t even hesitate. And he shot a beautiful scene and got exactly what he wanted."
Recently, actress Sydney Sweeney, who plays Cassie Howard on the show, shared a story with The Independent that echoed Kelly's story regarding Levinson's willingness to consider his cast's opinions on their characters' levels of nudity.
"There are moments where Cassie was supposed to be shirtless and I would tell Sam, ‘I don’t really think that’s necessary here,'" Sweeney said. "He was like, ‘OK, we don’t need it.'"
Sweeney added, "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."
According to Kelly, Levinson's decision to expand her role on the show also meant he was re-writing scenes frequently and often providing new scripts and dialog on the day those scenes were to be shot.
"That can be frustrating and can throw some people off, but I actually trust and feel safe with a director who’s not afraid to change his mind," Kelly shared. "At the end of the day, the goal is what ends up onscreen. We’re all here to facilitate his vision."
Check out the video below for more on the hit HBO drama series.
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