Picture Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Each day Beast/Getty/HBO
Euphoria’s a lot anticipated and hotly debated second season ended with a literal bang Sunday night time.
For the previous eight weeks, the buzz surrounding the sequence has been unmatched, managing to perform what few exhibits solely hope to realize: making a cult-like fandom who meticulously dissect every episode, dream up conspiracy-level storylines, and dominate Twitter feeds from Sunday till Wednesday, just for the chatter to choose again up once more heading into the weekend.
Twitter topped the HBO sequence about attractive, hard-partying excessive schoolers the most-tweeted-about present of the last decade, racking up greater than 30 million tweets since its January premiere from almost 19 million viewers—making it HBO’s second-most-watched present ever behind Recreation of Thrones.
With killer rankings, it’s no shock that the cable community determined to choose up Sam Levinson’s sequence for one more installment, nevertheless it’s clear that some shake-ups and structural pointers ought to be instituted to make sure that the third season is much less of a clusterfuck, on-screen and off.
A number of sources advised The Each day Beast that features of Season 2’s manufacturing have been hellish, with some describing the work atmosphere—notably in sure departments—as poisonous. Workdays would generally stretch to 18 hours and dedicated a number of SAG-AFTRA violations. At one level, after a number of complaints from background actors over working circumstances, sources allege that a union consultant was despatched to the set to make sure that union pointers have been being adopted.
And regardless of the present’s means to create stars out of its main forged, plucking some actors off the road and plopping them on the display screen, and crew members touchdown different high-profile gigs, a number of stated they'd decline a possibility to return to Euphoria subsequent season until main modifications have been applied.
“Creatively, it should be a dream, however logistically? Come on,” one supply stated, referring to creator Levinson’s behavior of not often coming to set with a shot checklist, however deciding what to shoot off the cuff. “It felt very privileged on that set.”
In an announcement to The Each day Beast, HBO stated, “The well-being of forged and crew on our productions is at all times a prime precedence. The manufacturing was in full compliance with all security pointers and guild protocols. It’s not unusual for drama sequence to have complicated shoots, and COVID protocols add a further layer. We keep an open line of communication with all of the guilds, together with SAG-AFTRA. There have been by no means any formal inquiries raised.”
Half the enjoyable of Euphoria’s second season got here in analyzing and discussing the present’s on-screen antics off-screen, with its fierce fandom trying to gauge whether or not Levinson was sneaking in clues of the chaos to return. Was Laurie injecting Rue with morphine an try at sex-trafficking? Is Ashtray in some way the Jacobs household’s mysterious third son? Did Samantha have an ulterior motive for secretly recording Maddy, who’d been rifling by means of her costly robes whereas babysitting?
Additionally they had very sturdy emotions about characters’ identities and the place the season ought to be headed, with many kicking up a fuss when an insider leaked a play-by-play of almost each episode following the season premiere—plot factors that largely panned out. (Screenshots of the leaks posted to Reddit and Twitter have been taken down, with the websites noting a 3rd social gathering flagged the fabric for copyright infringement.)
Sad with the leaker’s evaluation that Levinson gave the impression to be nonsensically placing sure characters on the again burner in favor of prioritizing others—which finally gave the impression to be the case by season’s finish—the fanbase started to activate the present’s creator, criticizing his screenwriting capabilities and inventive choices.
Issues solely intensified when gossip started spreading concerning the present’s shambolic manufacturing, with rumored tensions between Levinson and principal members of his main forged, notably Barbie Ferreira, who performs Season 1 fan-favorite Kat Hernandez.
The talks are stated to have gone south, culminating in Ferreira allegedly strolling off set and Levinson slicing again her display screen time. These strains have been additionally referenced by the Euphoria leaker, who claimed that HBO hadn’t been all that eager concerning the course of the season.
Ferreira did subsequent to nothing to dispel rumors of a rift, solely providing diplomatic, seemingly PR-approved solutions when pointedly questioned about what precisely went down in a number of interviews. (Sources beforehand confirmed to The Each day Beast that Ferreira had walked off set, sprained her ankle after slipping in the course of the filming of a sizzling tub scene, and had a minimum of certainly one of her massive scenes lower from an episode.)
Because the season got here to an in depth, extra crew members felt comfy talking out about their experiences. A number of advised The Each day Beast one of many chief points have been the needlessly lengthy workdays, with crew members and background actors pointing to the primary episode’s New Yr’s Eve social gathering scene for instance.
Even principal forged members Jacob Elordi and Maude Apatow acknowledged it was particularly tough, because the filming lasted for per week and solely happened at night time, with name time round 4 p.m. and capturing wrapping on the morning time—solely to do it once more.
Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), Maddy (Alexa Demie) and Kate (Barbie Ferreira) in Euphoria Season 2
HBO
For the handfuls of background actors known as to set to spherical out the packed social gathering, it was hellish. They keep that a number of complaints have been made to SAG-AFTRA over manufacturing failing to offer them meals on time and refusing to let folks use the toilet.
Sources additionally claimed that the set didn’t have a correct holding space for the extras, as a substitute they have been advised to hang around in pull-out chairs close to a set of bushes. As temperatures would dip into chilly circumstances at night time and extras wearing skimpy social gathering apparel, and two area heaters have been set out.
One other problem was with the offered meals, as sources alleged, they have been usually fed far previous the six-hour mark that SAG-AFTRA mandates, which ends up in a union penalty tremendous as much as $50 per half-hour for every union actor that isn’t ate up time. Finally, sources claimed, there have been so many complaints known as into SAG-AFTRA that a union rep turned as much as set.
In an announcement to The Each day Beast relating to the complaints made about Euphoria, a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson stated, “Advocating for skilled performer work classes like background actors and implementing contractual provisions is certainly one of SAG-AFTRA’s core capabilities. This contains the routine enforcement of contracts on the worksite by means of our Nationwide Discipline Companies Division which is charged with resolving any on-set violations by working with the corporate’s manufacturing workers members to instantly right the difficulty(s) in reference to performers’ employment.”
“All actors ought to profit from the protections our members get pleasure from, and manufacturing firms signed to our agreements have to observe our security protocols, wage and hour guidelines, and different protections—no matter an actor’s union standing,” they added.
The union wouldn't present clarification when requested simply what number of complaints it had acquired relating to manufacturing on Euphoria Season 2, nor how lengthy a union consultant was allegedly on set.
Finally, sources say folks started “dropping like flies,” with the casting company having to repeatedly recruit extra extras.
“I perceive that I’m doing background work,” one background actor advised The Each day Beast. “I’m not a very powerful individual there, I do know the place I'm on the totem pole. But it surely bought to a degree the place I used to be like, I’m nonetheless an individual, I’m nonetheless human. Please let me go to the restroom, don’t inform me I can’t go for half-hour or inform me I can’t get a snack whenever you’re not going to feed me and it’s 4 a.m. It simply very a lot felt like we didn’t exist as folks.”
“It was essentially the most disorganized set that I’ve ever been part of as a result of I don’t suppose anyone knew what was occurring,” one other added. “There have been occasions after 14 hours we have been advised, ‘That is the final scene, we’re accomplished after lunch,’ we took lunch, waited round two and a half hours, after which we went again to set. It felt poisonous to me as a result of I don’t suppose anyone was actually blissful to be there.”
Many attributed the lengthy days to Levinson not having a shot checklist, which is an in depth account of each digital camera shot the director needs throughout scenes and helps hold the manufacturing operating easily. As an alternative, sources stated Levinson and cinematographer Marcell Rév would decide how issues have been shot on the fly, with Rev just lately confirming to IndieWire that the 2 made “a number of instinctive choices on set” and purposely stopped utilizing storyboards this season.
Ashtray (Javon Walton) in Euphoria Season 2
HBO
Whereas Euphoria has acquired heaps of reward for its beautiful visuals—from intelligent mirror maneuvers and a fascinating shot of a stoic, but sobbing Cassie framed by dozens of flowers—the method was grueling for nearly everybody else concerned, and made their days even longer.
“The shot checklist was a giant a part of it,” one manufacturing supply stated. “Him and Marcell can be speaking, and it will be actually like, ‘How do you want that nook over there? Do you suppose she ought to simply stroll by it?’ ‘Yeah, why not, let’s movie it.’ Then it takes half-hour for them to reset the digital camera, the tracks, they usually’re utilizing actual movie in these cameras. The conversations between the 2 have been form of like if it was a pastime that was enjoyable. , ‘What do you suppose it will appear like? Let’s simply do that.’ These are particulars that ought to actually be gone over at first. We should always know what the following transfer is.”
“[Background actors] have been hiding within the bushes in order that manner they didn’t need to go on set,” they added. “There have been actually folks hiding in order that they didn’t get chosen to enter these background scenes, as a result of there was no course. You don’t understand how lengthy you’re going to be on set—it would take half-hour, nevertheless it is perhaps three hours. As a result of once more, there’s no sense of what we're doing.”
One other background actor stated that in capturing of the viewers response for Lexi’s play within the season’s last two episodes, Levinson was primarily “freestyling” the pictures, as they questioned why the forged and crew have been saved ready for eight hours whereas they figured it out.
Wanting forward, there’s certain to be some shake-ups when Season 3 of Euphoria makes its manner again to screens in 2024. One of many largest questions is that if Levinson will open up the author’s room, since this season lacked focus and ended up with far too many free ends. (Hunter Schafer is the one different person who Levinson has allowed to co-write an episode, serving to pen her character’s particular episode on transgender identification in the course of the present’s COVID-19 hiatus.)
It additionally ought to be famous that a minimum of 4 actress—Sweeney, Minka Kelly, Chloe Cherry, and Martha Kelly—expressed discomfort with sure nude scenes or normal themes of sexual pressure between sure characters, which Levinson then readily agreed to reduce.
Levinson has a penchant for spur-of-the-moment choices; Sweeney recalled final month how he wrote a five-page scene on the spot for her character Cassie and Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) after the actors felt there was extra to be added to their blowout struggle.
And the finale’s largest second was purported to be much more gut-wrenching, as actor Javon Walton, who performs Ashtray, advised Selection that sweetheart drug supplier Fezco (Angus Cloud) was initially going to be fatally shot, however Levinson ended up rewriting the scene a day earlier than filming.
These impulsive moments are inclined to lead to sure characters and their storylines taking a success, because it has with Jules, Kat, and even Season 1’s Chris McKay (Algee Smith), who solely appeared in a single episode this season.
With ample time earlier than manufacturing on Season 3 will get underway, it’s clear that HBO and Levinson want to plan a technique to hammer out these rising pains, in any other case Euphoria will proceed to be referred to as a present that’s simply as messy off-screen as it's on-screen.