From show creator and writer Sam Levinson (who also directed five episodes), the eight-episode HBO drama series Euphoria follows 17-year-old Rue (Zendaya, in a haunting and heartbreaking performance), a drug addict who’s just out of rehab and trying to figure out what’s next. As she comes to terms with how deeply her addiction affects her mother (Nika King) and sister (Storm Reid), she forms a deep connection with Jules (Hunter Schafer), a trans girl who’s new to town, and the two search for where they belong among the minefield of high school life.

At the Los Angeles press day for the series that’s a shocking, beautiful and uncomfortably honest look at teenage life, Collider got the opportunity to sit down with executive producer Sam Levinson and superstar Zendaya to talk about taking on Euphoria, the importance of telling this story, why this was a challenging and scary role to take on, shooting an episode at a carnival, the Rue-Jules dynamic, how important Gia is to Rue, how the character evolved, Zendaya’s desire to direct, and what's still to come for Rue.

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Image via HBO

Collider:  I am so impressed with this, everybody’s performances, and the story that you’re telling, so congratulations on all of that.

SAM LEVINSON:  Thank you!

What was it like to take on writing, directing and producing all of this?

ZENDAYA:  He’s amazing!

LEVINSON:  It really was a dream.

ZENDAYA:  I still don’t how this man was writing episodes, editing episodes and directing them, and then making sure it’s beautiful. I was like, “Dude, I don’t know how you’re doing this.” I would just combust.

LEVINSON:  Yeah, but it just gets set into motion. We have such a fucking incredible cast and an incredible crew, and it’s such a collaborative and beautiful environment, that I would get up and go to work, every day, and I was excited about what our costume designer, Heidi Bivens, was going to come up with, what our make-up artist, Doniella Davy, was going to come up with, and across the board, what the actors and the crew were gonna bring to it. We tried, every day, to really push it from a cinematic level, in terms of lighting and form, that we didn’t even know was possible. It was terrifying because, if they weren’t possible, we were gonna get in a lot of fucking trouble with HBO.

ZENDAYA:  It’s really impressive when you read things and you get this idea in your head of what it’s gonna look like. Nine times out of ten, it’s never that good. You have an idea and you’re like, “Wow, it’s so nice in my head.” But then, when you do it, it’s like, “Okay, it’s pretty, but it never quite gets there.” But this is the one thing that I’ve done that, every single time, it went beyond what I could have imagined. Every shot, whether it was literally just a two second shot in the kitchen, or it’s a magical shot through a carnival, was shot beyond what my brain could have thought it would look like. It’s craziness.

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Image via HBO

Setting an episode at a carnival seems like so much fun, but also such a nightmare?

ZENDAYA:  It was a nightmare, but it was also the best.

LEVINSON:  It was really tough. It was a nightmare. But what’s interesting is that most of the episodes were storyboarded, and we storyboarded 880 storyboards per episode. Then, we would actually build everything around the storyboards. That entire carnival was 125,000 square feet, and we had rides everywhere. We just assembled it to fit our shots, our camera, and the actors. It was freezing cold, it was dusty, it was horrible, and we shot it in six days.

ZENDAYA:  All night shoots. I couldn’t breathe. I needed an inhaler.

LEVINSON:  It was brutal.

ZENDAYA:  It was dusty, but it was worth every moment.

LEVINSON:  But thinking back and watching the footage, I get happy. I’m like, “Yeah, that was so much fun, in retrospect.”

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Image via HBO

Actors talk about wanting to find roles that are challenging and scary. What was it about this that most scared you, and what most excited you about getting to do this kind of material?

ZENDAYA:  Well, it’s so funny because I had a lot of fears, prior to even knowing that this script existed, about what I was gonna do next, what I should do next, and what I was looking for. I had all of these ideas in my head about what the next move should be, and there was nothing that I felt like I was connecting with. I was starting to stress and bug out because I just didn’t have anything, and nothing was connecting with me. I didn’t want to just say yes to a shitty project because I didn’t have anything else. So, I was just waiting, and other things fell through. Everything was just not going right. And then, Euphoria came along. When I read it, I immediately just loved it. There’s no other way to put it. I just fell in love with the script, and I feel in love with Rue and all of the characters. I wanted to know more about them and about their lives. I wanted them to be okay. I just wanted to be a part of that world of Euphoria. All of those thoughts went out of my head, and I just knew I wanted to be a part of this project. And then, after meeting Sam and knowing how personal it was to him, and after our conversations, I just knew I was in the right place and that this is where I was clearly meant to be because I didn’t stress. I can stress. I stress in silence. Nobody will ever know ‘cause I’m a very calm person, but I will be stressed and pressed, to no end because my mind is constantly doing these equations for the good and bad outcome of everything. So, the sheer fact that I did not have that stress, the entire time, even when we were shooting this show, I was able to fully just let myself go into the show and enjoy every moment of it. Clearly, this is where I need to be, and this is what I was destined to be doing, at this time.

LEVINSON:  Thank god!

ZENDAYA:  And it’s an amazing piece of material. You don’t find just roles like that, just lying around. It’s rare when you find something where you’re like, “I can get into this, and it’s gonna be exciting and challenging and hard.” You just don’t get that, ever. And then, that it was being written by someone who was actually coming from an honest place and who wasn’t like, “I have this idea about a kid with addiction, but I made it up because I’ve seen a lot of movies about addiction, and this seems like what happens,” as a developed society, we know when it’s bullshit and it’s not real. What I immediately connected to and realized about this script was that it was real. Sam just knows how to convey all of this stuff into a script. I hate reading scripts, so the fact that I read through it so quickly and was like, “This is how people talk. I understand it. I’m laughing. I’m heartbroken,” I knew that I had to do it. That’s how it was.

 

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Image via HBO

One of the things that I love most about this show is the relationship between Rue and Jules because it’s such an interesting dynamic. That has to be in the script, but it also has to be in the chemistry between the actors. What was it like to work with Hunter Schafer?

ZENDAYA:  She’s an angel. She’s a truly perfect person, through and through. When she comes into a room, she’s like this ray of sunshine that reflects off of everyone. I can’t even think of more positive things to say about her, as a human. She’s just amazing.

LEVINSON:  And also, she had never acted before.

ZENDAYA:  She’s fuckin’ brilliant.

LEVINSON:  She’s fuckin’ extraordinary. The dynamic between Rue and Jules is the idea that someone can come into your life, and you just wanna be a better person because of them. That’s something that’s really, really palpable. The thing that interested me most was the main thrust of the show and Rue’s desire to be a better person because of Jules.

ZENDAYA:  I like that their relationship is beautiful and there’s love, but it also deals with the idea of co-dependency in a relationship, and how her addiction and her sobriety can affect someone else. What does that look like, and how does it end up affecting the person that you’re with? And Hunter is phenomenal and wonderful. It’s not hard to be in love with her, on camera. She’s just amazing.

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Image via HBO

The relationship between the sisters is interesting, as well, because it’s the first time that Rue has to look at the effect of her behavior on someone else.

ZENDAYA:  Yeah, I always said that, from the first day that we met. I hadn’t gotten to read the other episodes, so I didn’t really know much about what was going to happen to Rue, at all, and I said, “I really hope that she makes it through, or that she stays clean, and I know the one reason will be Gia.” Baby Storm [Reid] is so good. She’s so talented. It’s crazy. She can go there, at the drop of a hat. I can’t do that. It takes me a second to be on camera.

LEVINSON:  We’ll be shooting a scene, and then suddenly, it’s time to do Storm’s close-up, so we turn the camera around and say, “Action!,” and it’s just the most fucking breathtaking performance. Every single person behind the camera, from hair and make-up to the script supervisors, are just like, “Holy shit.” She can just turn it on, and then turn it right off. It’s astounding.

ZENDAYA:  Yeah, she’s a little G. That relationship is so important. It’s really Jules and Gia that keep Rue going.

As you got to know this character more, were there things in her that you grew to appreciate more, that you didn’t necessarily see in her, from the beginning?

ZENDAYA:  It grew from being [Sam] to being a little bit of me, to becoming who Rue is. Now, she’s a person of her own. There were little things, here and there, that slowly starts to turn into their own thing. She has this innocence that we found, as we went along. There’s a little baby quality to her. You just want to love and protect her. It’s like, “Oh, you little teenie thing. You’re so innocent and you don’t know. But she’s also just fuckin’ nuts, and does this horrible shit and ruins people, while she’s this sweet, innocent thing. It was about trying to find that balance. The first time I read the script, I wasn’t like, “Oh, she’s so sweet and innocent and cute.” That’s something that we found in her, as she grew up.

LEVINSON:  I remember writing that episode, because that was one of the episodes I wrote after shooting the pilot, and I just thought, “Oh, this is a surprise,” just finding that she’s not as mature as we think she is, at times, or that we assume she is because of how serious her addiction issues are.

Zendaya, you talked about being worried about not finding that next thing, before coming across Euphoria. So, now that you’ve finished the season, how do you find the next project?

ZENDAYA:  Now you know where my mind is at, at this point in my life. That’s why I’ve been sad, since we wrapped. I’ve been nocturnal, meaning I slept for two hours last night because I’m still on night shoot schedule and can’t get rid of it. I wanna go back to my home, which is Euphoria. That’s where I live. I wanna go back. It sucks because I’ll be comparing everything I do, I feel like, to this, for the rest of my life, which is okay because it’ll force me to push myself and continue to raise my own bar. But it’s gonna be hard because this is such a special experience. You don’t get to play people like this often. It’s just a special thing. So, I don’t know what I’m doing. Thank god I have Spider-Man.

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Image via HBO

You’re a fashion designer, a brand ambassador, you’re a part of the Marvel family with the Spider-Man franchise. Do you find yourself drawn to like producing and directing, and all of that behind the scenes stuff, so that you have more of a say in what you’re doing?

ZENDAYA:  I’ve harassed Sam, a little bit, on set.

LEVINSON:  I feel so grateful that Z’s leading this whole piece because her work ethic is just incredible and non-stop, and she’s also one of the most generous human beings that I’ve come across, in my entire life. She’s really kind and down-to-earth. And then, in watching her act and just talking to her about film, you just realize, very quickly, that this is someone who has no ceiling to their talent. She finishes an emotionally insane day, does beautiful work, and then is just chilling and talking to our gaffer or about the lighting, or whatever. I’m just looking at her and I’m like, “Oh, it’s gonna be a year or two before she’s directing.” She’s so meticulous and so thoughtful about it. It’s inspiring, as a storyteller and as someone who’s able to push the show wherever it wants to go. It just really excites me.

ZENDAYA:  I wanna learn how he does it, honestly. This is the most beautiful shit I’ve ever seen, so I’m like, “How is he doing this?” There are eight things that he’s doing at a time, and I wanna know how he’s doing those eight things because, one day, I wanna be able to do it. If I admire your work, and I an sit and watch you and you’re cool with it, then I’ll do it. I’m just gonna shadow him for the rest of his life.

Is it something that you’ve given serious consideration to, or is it something that feels like it’s down the road?

ZENDAYA:  Now, I have. When I’d see directors doing their thing, I was like, “That’s a lot.” And then, this is on another level of a lot. But then, they don’t have to deal with the script. They can make notes, but then somebody else goes and writes it. But the fact that Sam was doing all of it is, I was like, “Okay, so if he can do all this shit, that means I can at least get directing under my belt.” I might not get the writing shit, but I can at least learn that. It’s crazy. And what better place to learn than a place where you feel comfortable and you feel close with everyone, and everybody’s okay with you being at their cart. I’m lucky, in that sense, to be able to watch it. Being an actor, I’m also interested in watching my fellow actors do their job too. I learn from them and I watch them, and they fucking’ give crazy performances.

LEVINSON:  That’s one of the most beautiful parts about coming to work. You get this sense and this very real feeling that everyone is rooting for everyone else. At the end of the day, that’s what makes me like really proud of the show. It’s that level of heart and soul that every person puts into the show and brings to it.

ZENDAYA:  Thanks for not casting any assholes.

LEVINSON: We’ve got no bad apples.

How far have you thought about Rue’s journey and where she’s going? Do you have Season 2 in your head?

ZENDAYA:  The only thing that gets me through is knowing that Sam is who he is now, and has a wonderful, beautiful family. That’s gonna be Rue. So, in my head, Rue is gonna grow up and become a writer and director, and she’s gonna have a family. That’s what I hold onto. No matter what she goes through, this is the out product, so she’s gonna be all right. That gets me through.

LEVINSON:  She’s gonna go through some shit first.

ZENDAYA:  But that’s the goal.

LEVINSON:  It’s an endless well of material, and they’re characters that I love deeply. So, yeah, I’ve got some ideas. We just wrapped, a week and a half ago, and I’m still editing. We wrapped on like Friday morning, at like 7am, and I woke up on Sunday like, “I should start writing.” And then, I realized, “Oh, I still have to like edit Episodes 2 through 8, and mix them.”

Euphoria airs on Sunday nights on HBO.