Sydney Sweeney has earned more headlines for Euphoria's third and final season than any other cast member – and it's not hard to see why.
The 28-year-old's portrayal of Cassie Howard divided viewers as she embarked on an OnlyFans career that saw her engaging in several explicit scenes, which sparked controversy among some.
However, in a new interview, Sydney made it clear that she was playing a character and would not be following Cassie's footsteps and joining OnlyFans.
"He sent me all the scripts and it already had all of Cassie's scenes in it, the OnlyFan scenes, and he called me afterwards, and he was talking about it, and we talking through it all," she told Vanity Fair of her discussion with the show's creator, Sam Levinson.
"He asked me how I felt about it, and I told him, 'Look, I'm playing a character.' Do I agree with all of Cassie's decisions? Would I personally make these choices? No, of course not.'"
She added: "But I'm an actor and that's my job and this is Cassie's life and to be able to do her justice and play her how she's to be played is to bring Sam's vision to life and to play Cassie in the most vulnerable and insane way possible."
© InstagramDiscussing Cassie's obsession with becoming famous through OnlyFans, Sydney continued: "From the very beginning, you can see that Cassie has this need to be loved. She has a need to be validated by other people.
"She doesn’t know how to love herself unless someone else loves her. So I understand how Sam got her to where she was in season three. I think she was more excited by the idea of all these people loving her and knowing who she is and feeling like her world isn't small."
© InstagramSam revealed earlier this week that he suggested dialling back Cassie's nude scenes, but claimed that Sydney insisted her storyline wouldn't make sense without the nudity.
"When I first wrote it, I thought, 'Well, maybe we shoot all of this and we don't have any nudity,'" he told the New York Times' Popcast. "I was talking to her, and you know, [I said] 'Maybe there's ways to shoot around certain things?'"
"She looked at me, and she was like, 'Are you kidding? It's like, I'm playing an OnlyFans model. You're telling me you're going to, like, skirt around it?'
© Instagram"And I was like, 'Yeah, OK, it's a fair point,'" he added. "So there's always a discussion of what works best for the character."
Sam shared his admiration for Sydney and said she was a "totally fearless actor" who was "wonderfully professional."
"I adore working with her, because there's such a flexibility in terms of the performance," he added.
