Sydney Sweeney Defended Sam Levinson After “The Idol” Backlash

As soon as once more, Sydney Sweeney is defending Sam Levinson.

As I’m certain you understand, Sydney rose to fame after enjoying Cassie Howard in Sam’s hit HBO drama, Euphoria.

Although broadly acclaimed, Euphoria has garnered loads of criticism regarding the quantity of nudity within the sequence, which facilities round a troubled group of excessive schoolers.

Amid backlash surrounding the second season in 2022, a number of of the present’s solid members admitted there have been occasions they felt uncomfortable with the quantity of pores and skin they had been required to point out for sure scenes.

In truth, Sydney was amongst these to talk out, revealing in January 2022 that she as soon as requested Sam if they might reduce on her character’s 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,’” she instructed the Unbiased. “He was like, ‘OK, we don’t need it.’”

In addition to Euphoria, Sam can be one of many co-creators of The Idol, which stirred up a ton of controversy earlier this yr after a Rolling Stone report in contrast the present to “sexual torture porn.”

For context, The Idol stars Lily-Rose Depp as a younger pop star named Jocelyn, who, after struggling a nervous breakdown, finds herself embroiled in a poisonous relationship with a cult chief named Tedros, performed by The Weeknd (AKA, Abel Tesfaye).

Just like Euphoria, The Idol confronted a ton of backlash on account of its sexual scenes and frequent nudity, prompting Lily–Rose, Abel, and Sam to publicly defend the present’s graphic content material on quite a few events.

And now, in a brand new interview with Selection, Sydney is weighing in on all of the discourse, making it clear that communication was key whereas capturing Euphoria.

“You have me, you have Z, you have all of these very strong minded, independent women,” she mentioned, referring to Zendaya, the present’s lead. “If we didn’t feel comfortable with something, or we saw something we didn’t like, we’d all speak up.”

Speaking extra particularly in regards to the widespread criticism of Sam, Sydney admitted she discovered it tough to see false narratives make headlines.

“It’s hard to see someone completely trashed by the public and the media when no one’s actually there,” she mentioned, earlier than emphasizing her love for Euphoria, which is at present set to return for a 3rd season in 2025. “We are there, and clearly we’re still working on the show, and we’re still supportive.”

On quite a few events when defending The Idol, Sam, Abel, and Lily-Rose emphasised that the graphic content material was meant to evoke a powerful response from viewers, for higher or worse.

And whereas speaking to Selection, Sydney appeared to echo this stance, saying that inflicting a stir is the entire level in the case of Sam’s work.

“The point is making people uncomfortable, and thinking outside the box. What else is the point of art?” she mentioned. “For me, I feel so free and confident now. And I’ve found that through Cassie.”

This isn’t the primary time that Sydney has come to Sam’s protection. After her feedback about asking him to restrict her nudity went viral in 2022, the White Lotus star backtracked on her preliminary assertion and emphasised that the story was a testomony to his “respectful” nature on set.

“It was more 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,” she instructed Teen Vogue in March 2022.

“There’s a purpose to what that character is going through. That’s the character,” she defined. “We all get naked in real life. We show this character’s life and what they’re going through. Cassie’s body is a different form of communication for her.”