Euphoria’s mind-blowing homoerotic dance scene originally involved ‘tighty whities’ and a lot of oil
Euphoria. (HBO)
Euphoria actor Austin Abrams has said the show’s homoerotic dance scene originally involved him being “lathered down in oil” wearing just underwear.
Episode seven of Euphoria’s divisive second season sees Lexi finally stage her semi-autobiographical play.
The most talked-about scene of the night was a steamy dance routine, with Ethan (Abrams) cavorting topless with a bunch of football jocks to Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero”.
But the actor said the dance was nearly even raunchier, with Ethan and the other dancers “lathered down in oil and doing all these things” in underwear, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Abrams explained that he eventually went from wearing his “tighty whities” to football uniform.
When he first read the script, he admitted, he was nervous. “That’s not something previously that I had done in a long time, with dancing and stuff,” Abrams told ET. “But it was also really exciting. So, it was a combination of those two things.”
The Euphoria star added that while he was originally worried about filming the dance, he actually found it “fun” and “so freeing”.
Abrams said: “I love the dancers, I love Ryan (choreographer Ryan Heffington) and it was really fun… moving your body and moving your hips, there was something so freeing about it.”
Abram’s reveal comes after fans shared concerns about the number of Euphoria actors who’ve admitted to pushing back against nude scenes.
Sydney Sweeney (Cassie), Chloe Cherry (Faye), Alexa Damie (Maddy), Martha Kelly (Laurie) and Minka Kelly (Samantha) have all spoken about feeling uncomfortable with the amount of nudity expected of them.
It’s far from the first controversy Euphoria has faced. The cast and crew have batted away claims it is glamourising drug abuse.
Zendaya (Rue) argued the show is in “no way a moral tale”. Meanwhile, co-producer Jeremy O Harris took to Twitter earlier in February to defend the second season after fans complained about its pacing.
I see this season of #Euphoria as a Gesamtkunstwerk that rejects the “episode” by “episode” mentality of most shows. I hope this episode inspires more patience in how the piece will feel as a whole when it’s done.
Think of it like Dickens’ periodicals and not serialized tv.
— NYT Least Relevant Notable of 2021 Jeremy O Harris (@jeremyoharris) February 7, 2022
Harris argued on Twitter that the series “is made for ppl with an intellect for CINEMA and not the impatience of TELEVISION.”
