I kept forgetting that you were English

because you spoke in your American accent the whole time.

And I was like, oh, shit, he is-

- Oh, sugar.

- Oh, oh, snap.

He is, he is from, dang.

- Oh, darn. - Darn, darn it.

- Oh, fudge, fudge.

- Fudgesicles.

What was really funny, I think, about it

is, like, Tom was so nervous about you guys coming in.

- That's so wild. - So nervous.

- He never let anything onto, pull those pants down.

Get those calves.

Get under, under wraps. - Under control.

- Yeah.

- These crazy forearms.

(both laugh)

Inside jokes.

Wait, wat was that from, what was that?

I forget what that was from.

- It was a Toby one, and he was like, "Those crazy,"

because he was trying to pull up the...

- These crazy forearms.

- So it reminded me of this.

(upbeat funky music)

- Acting.

- So acting. - Acting.

So, really, acting though, because (giggles).

- We knew this would happen.

We were like, "It's gonna go great off-camera.

As soon as it starts rolling, we're gonna be like,

'So, I don't know how to speak anymore.'"

Yeah.

- No, but, okay, but seriously though,

because I haven't said to you yet,

and I've been saving it since I've seen you this morning.

Having seen season two now of your show "Euphoria,"

with our friend, Sam Levinson,

the brilliant creator, showrunner,

director extraordinaire that he is,

and your incredible cast,

but I just do wanna start making you very uncomfortable

and say that it is kind of one of the most remarkable things

I've seen an actor do in recent memory

because of its rawness, because of its agony,

because of its unflinching vulnerability

and access to a woundedness,

and a kind of universal soul-cry for meaning

that you seem to just have and access.

How, but how?

- Well, thank you.

- No, but like- - No, but I mean that,

that means the world.

I really, really appreciate that.

- But, like, it's kind of wild, man.

And I know it's hard to receive those things,

'cause you just do what you do,

but for me to witness it,

especially, I think it was episode five.

What's the name of the episode?

"Stand Like a Hummingbird."

- Yeah, it was "Stand Still Like a Hummingbird."

- "Stand Still Like a Hummingbird."

- Where did you put it, where'd you put my pills, Mom?

Where did you put it?

- [Leslie] Get out of my way, get out of my way.

I'm calling the police.

- [Rue] No you can't, you can't do that.

- [Leslie] You will not attack me

in my own home. - I'll do whatever the fuck

I want in your own home.

- It is one of the most relentless episodes of television,

like emotionally relentless episodes

of television I've ever seen,

and we love you so much in the show, just as a character,

and to see you being, and I know you,

you know, I'm starting to get to know you better and better,

but to have access to that kind of awfulness.

- [Zendaya] Yeah, I know.

- And the damage and the pain,

and to make it so human,

and I'm not asking a question yet,

and I don't know how to ask a question about it,

and it's gonna be 30 minutes of just praising you,

and that's fun for me and for all of us.

Not for you, but-

- I don't know how to, I'm still trying

to figure out how to take 'em.

- Well, yeah, but that's another thing we can get into.

- Yeah, taking compliments.

- Actors taking compliments.

Welcome back to actors taking compliments

with Zendaya and Andrew.

No, but for real, though,

so how did you sustain access to that agony,

access to that rage, access to that yearning,

for the whole series,

but particularly that relentless episode,

like how did you do that?

(Zendaya sighs) (Andrew laughs)

- Let's just really go right to it, right?

Sorry, it's, like, the thing I'm interested in.

- But I wanna say thank you

because, you know, I've obviously been

a fan of your work for a long time,

and hearing, I think, you know,

compliments from people that you admire,

and people whose work that you respect,

it means so much, you know?

So thank you for that.

- Well, I'm flattered that it's so meaningful to you.

- Yes, no it is.

But it's tough,

and 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 really appreciated.

- That makes me wanna cry a little bit.

- It was very kind and heartwarming in that way,

that people were looking out.

I think there was a lot of actors

that were like, "Are you good?"

And I was like, "Yeah, I'm good, I'm good."

- It didn't feel like there was any acting.

It felt like you were living through something

in such an authentic way, so.

- I don't know, you know, it's hard to say

that there's any specific process for that, right?

I feel like, when it comes to Rue, at least for me,

my experience with her is, I've been able,

I've had the privilege of playing her for a while, right?

So I've had the luxury of living in her skin for a bit,

and the closeness that I share with Sam, who you spoke of,

is a huge part of that because I think Rue

is very much based on him as a teenager,

and I think a lot of the pain that he went through,

and now him being able to turn it

into something quite beautiful

and express it through Rue.

So Rue has become kind of like an amalgamation

of my experiences, his experiences,

and our collective pain,

and seeing through the eyes of an addict,

and trying to always kind of,

I think the approach was to try to

approach it as human as possible

without ever shying away from the devastation

and the ugliness of what that can create.

And, also, 'cause it's not just about Rue, right?

That whole kind of opening, it's about an entire family

and friends and loved ones that are

affected by that pain, as well,

and you have to show that,

and you have to go there,

and I had actually been very afraid to shoot that episode

because it had been an episode that we,

that's why I was having a hard time

remembering the name of the episode,

'cause we just always called it the Rue run.

(both laugh)

So, you know, it had been written for, like,

a while before the pandemic,

and so I was kind of dreading having to do it.

I was very scared

to tackle that. - Of course, yeah.

- And also knowing that on top of

just kind of this massive blowout,

where the pain is coming to a head

and getting to a point where you can't hide it anymore,

and then on top of that, she's going through withdrawal.

So that's like a whole nother physical thing

and aspect to kind of keep inside your brain

while also trying to, like,

understand everything else that's happening.

What was cool, basically, is we,

you know, Sam lit the whole house.

So we usually, with "Euphoria,"

it's like things are very structured shots, right,

and to try to give the show

that feels very chaotic, some type of structure,

a lot of dollies and a lot of calculated

kind of camera movements for that, it was all Marcell,

our incredible cinematographer, Marcell Rev.

He was, you know, had it on his shoulder the whole time

and was moving with me,

and I think it becomes

like a dance, you know? - Of course, yeah.

- [Zendaya] When you have that

camera operator that understands.

- How long were those takes?

- Until the mag went out.

So, you know-

- 'Cause you shoot on film.

- Yeah. - Which is...

(imitates camera ticking)

And there's very specific film stock

that you guys use, as well.

- Yeah, Ektachrome.

- Yeah. - That they made for us.

- So beautiful. - So crazy.

- It enhances everything

and just kind of gives it a hue of beauty

and sadness and tenderness.

I was gonna ask you, like,

did you say, "We're doing my close up first?"

- No, we-

- Like, "I don't give a shit about the,

a crap about the dolly."

- There was no kind of structure 'cause there couldn't be.

There had to be a level of volatility

and unpredictability to her mood

and where it was gonna go,

so we just started from the beginning,

and they just made, they said,

"Listen, you can break whatever you want,

we made it so it's safe to break

and throw whatever you want. - Wow, that's great.

- And we're gonna light the whole house,

so you can go through the whole thing.

- So weirdly caring.

- So caring, right?

To make sure I was good. - So beautifully caring, yeah.

'Cause they know that you were gonna be

doing something incredibly painful and hard.

- [Zendaya] Yeah.

- And then how many takes of that sequence did you do?

- You know, just over and over again.

until we felt like we had it,

and then we moved on to the next part,

but it was a long day, 'cause that's like.

- That was one day?

- It was one day of just fighting everyone,

and, you know, I'm sure you can understand,

but when you're playing a character

that you deeply care about,

but they're actively making decisions where you're like,

"Why, please don't say that, don't do that."

And then, on top of that, you, as a person,

with your fellow actors, you love them, you care about them.

You don't wanna say these things to other.

- Why am I crying?

- I know, no.

But you don't wanna hurt somebody else, you know?

You don't wanna hurt someone.

You don't wanna say something to someone that hurts them.

That's not the kind of person I feel like I am.

You know what's a shame, Mom?

My dad's dead.

Kind of keeps you from admitting

what a shit fucking mother you are.

- So evident in that sequence,

like, I can see those moments,

which are just so subterranean, which are like,

I don't wanna- - Wanna do this.