Jacob Elordi Admits He ‘Struggled’ With the Intimacy Coordinator in ‘Euphoria’ Season 1
It’s no secret that Euphoria is often a difficult show for viewers to watch. Ahead of the Season 2 premiere, Zendaya even warned fans that the sophomore season would be deeply emotional and potentially triggering. But the show isn’t just hard to watch, it can be challenging for the cast to film as well. Jacob Elordi, for example, admits it was sometimes a struggle to film some of the more intimate moments in season 1.
Jacob Elordi filmed quite a few sex scenes for ‘Euphoria’
Elordi, of course, portrays Nate Jacobs in Euphoria. One of the show’s main antagonists, Nate is the character that fans love to hate. But despite his combative personality, or perhaps because of it, he is the most popular boy in school. The star quarterback, Nate is the embodiment of the popular jock trope.
Because of Nate’s popularity, he has no shortage of sex scenes in Euphoria. Many of them are with his on-again, off-again, girlfriend Maddy Perez. Of course, due to the many dream sequences in Euphoria, Nate’s character also had quite a few intimate scenes with Jules Vaughn.
An intimacy coordinator choreographs all the intimate scenes for the hit HBO show
While the sex scenes in Euphoria may look very realistic and in the moment, they were actually choreographed by Amanda Blumenthal. Blumenthal serves as the intimacy coordinator for both seasons of Euphoria. Her job is to ensure the cast feels safe and comfortable while filming the intimate scenes. And the intimacy scenes aren’t limited to sex scenes. Blumenthal is present even when two actors are filming a makeout scene.
Elordi admitted that he struggled with the idea of an intimacy coordinator in ‘Euphoria’ Season 1
Elordi has shared that he enjoyed working with Blumenthal on the show. However, he admits that collaborating with her had a bit of a learning curve. In an interview with Elle Australia, The Kissing Booth alum got candid about how his working relationship with Euphoria’s intimacy coordinator changed over time.
“In the first season, I kind of struggled with it because I thought it killed the spontaneity of the scene and it was a little bit hands-on, but working with her this season was such a treat,” the Euphoria star shared. “It was delightful, she was so helpful and so caring. She was there for the actor and it made the scenes just like playing any regular moment — she saved the day.”
Sydney Sweeney revealed that working with Amanda Blumenthal made her feel more comfortable
And Elordi was hardly the only person to sing Blumenthal’s praises. In the same interview Sydney Sweeney, who plays Cassie Howard on Euphoria, also shared how essential the intimacy coordinator has been able to help make her experience a safe and comfortable one.
“It adds another level of comfort and they have a lot of mints and gum,” Sweeney shared about working with Blumenthal on Euphoria. “I’m really lucky because all my castmates are so kind and Sam [Levinson] is amazing. It’s a very safe and incredible environment to do such scenes in and having the intimacy coordinator adds another level of ‘I feel OK, I feel safe and this is for my character.’”
Clearly, Blumenthal’s presence has been of vital importance to the cast of Euphoria. We can only hope that other productions follow suit and begin making intimacy coordinators a requirement on set.
