It’s clear why Zendaya won an Emmy for her work on the first season of the controversial teen drama Euphoria – and she’ll most likely scoop another gong for season two.
Among the glitz and glamour of the glittering makeup looks, we all watched in awe and pain as Zendaya channelled troubled teen Rue’s relentless spiral into the devastation of severe drug addiction.
In particular, episode five of the latest series, named Stand Still Like the Hummingbird, saw Rue’s mother confront her troubled teen over her drug use, with the situation escalating to a no-holds-barred insight into the world of addiction.
The tempestuous scene left such a mark on Zendaya’s good pal and Spider-Man co-star Andrew Garfield that he was keen on asking her if she was doing okay after filming the destructive fall-out.
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Speaking of “the most relentless episode of television he’d ever seen,” Andrew told Zendaya: “I’m starting to get to know you better but to have access to that kind of awfulness and the damage and pain, and to make it so human.
“I was like, “Are you OK?” How did you make sure you were OK while you were doing that?” he asked in the joint interview with Variety.
Zendaya, who looked glam for a short film with Bulgari, explained that others also shared his concerns and checked up on her to ensure she was doing okay after filming the “tough” scene.
Seventeen-year-old Rue returns home from rehab with no plans to stay clean. She meets Jules, who’s new in town, at a party at McKay’s house. Nate gets in McKay’s head when McKay takes an interest in Cassie. Nate and Maddy, who have broken up once again, attempt to make each other jealous. Meanwhile, Kat is pressured to lose something.HBO
“I thought what was actually quite sweet was when that episode did air, I did get a lot of messages from people checking in on me, which I appreciated,” she said.
Zendaya added that her “approach was to try it as human as possible without ever shying away from the devastation and the ugliness of what that can create.”
She noted that the scene in which Rue hits rock bottom was an “amalgamation of her experiences” and that of director Sam Levinson, as the character is based on his real-life struggles as a teenager.
The scene was so heavy that Zendaya admitted she had been “afraid” to shoot it.
“It had been written for a while before the pandemic, and I was dreading having to do it,” she said.
Needless to say, we’re Rue-ting for Rue, and we can’t wait to see her return to season three, which was officially confirmed earlier this year!