Euphoria director defends Sydney Sweeney’s ‘humiliating’ OnlyFans storyline as he praises the actress for ‘becoming brilliant’ under pressure

Sam Levinson says Sydney Sweeney ‘becomes brilliant’ on set ‘if you push a little’.

The Euphoria creator has begun working with the 28-year-old actress – who played Cassie Howard in all three seasons – and praised her for the way she adapted after a shake-up that saw a key scene change on the day of the shoot.

Speaking at The Hollywood Reporter’s Directors in Focus event, he said: ‘What’s interesting is that if you push her a little bit, she becomes brilliant…

‘If you do a few more takes, she can reach levels that are very honest emotionally, but also very funny. She is able to anchor the scene with this kind of madness and chaos around her.”

Sam also paid tribute to Sydney’s co-star Zendaya, who showed off her talent for physical comedy in a scene where her character Rue tries to escape from a jeep atop the border wall.

Sam Levinson says Sydney Sweeney ‘becomes brilliant’ on set ‘if you push a little’

The Euphoria creator has begun working with the 28-year-old actress – who played Cassie Howard in all three seasons – and praised her for the way she adapted after a shake-up that saw a key scene change on the day of the shoot (Sam and Sydney pictured last month)

He added, “What’s so spectacular about Zendaya as an actor is the physicality that she has, and I think it goes back to her Disney training, that she can move and tell a story with such humor.

“When I started this season, I always knew I wanted to do something that put us in the middle of the action, but with a certain absurdity.

“We ended up having this border wall sequence, which I think we’re going to look at. I kind of imagined it as a mix of Buster Keaton set in this modern drug world.”

Zendaya and Sydney have been embroiled in crazy speculation suggesting they are not getting along, after they were not pictured together at the red carpet premiere of Euphoria’s third season, while Sydney was missing from a cast photo taken to promote the new Euphoria episodes.

However, their castmate Jessica Blair Herman has insisted there has been absolutely ‘no drama’ between the pair.

Speaking at The Hollywood Reporter’s Directors in Focus event, he said: “What’s interesting is that if you push her a little bit, she becomes brilliant.”

Speaking about fellow Euphoria star, he added: ‘What’s so spectacular about Zendaya as an actor is the physicality that she has, and I think it goes back to her Disney training, that she’s able to move and tell a story with such humor.’

During an appearance on Fox 5’s Good Day New York show, Jessica recently stated that everyone on the set of Euphoria got along well.

She said, “They really did. And I’m not just saying that.’

She added: ‘[There is] no drama. Really, they’ve created this wonderful working relationship and everyone wants to do the work, come in and do the work.”

However, Jessica explained that Sydney and The Drama star Zendaya are often separated on set as they are involved in separate Euphoria storylines and rarely film scenes together.

She said: “To be honest, when I was there they weren’t sharing any scenes. Their storylines are very different, you shoot on different days and all that.’