Maude Apatow Reveals One of Their Euphoria Co-Star Broke Sydney Sweeney’s Toe On Set

By this point, the intense emotion of Director Sam Levinson’s Euphoria set is the stuff of television legend, but the series’ actors had at least one on-set injury aiding the on-screen waterworks. As actress Maude Apatow revealed while introducing honoree Sydney Sweeney at ELLE’s Women in Hollywood celebration Monday night, Sweeney broke her toe while filming season 2—and refused to tell anyone but Apatow.

“Last year, while shooting one of our final scenes in Euphoria, our castmate stepped on Sydney’s foot with a high-heeled shoe and broke her toe,” Apatow said. She added, “I’m not going to name names, but it was Alexa Demie.” (Demie was not present to defend her good name.)

Laughing, Apatow fleshed out the whole story to the ELLE Women in Hollywood audience:

“When [director] Sam [Levinson] said ‘cut,’ Sydney grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the back hallway where nobody could see. She started silently screaming out in pain, begging for me not to tell anyone, which put me in the very difficult position of watching my friend suffer through what would end up being a scene that involved a very large amount of physical activity, including running and leaping. Sydney wiped her tears and did the scene as if nothing was wrong. She didn’t even limp.

And after that perfect take, our director, Sam Levinson, decided he only needed nine more takes. Between every take, Sydney would pull me aside, her eyes welling with tears, and silently scream in my face before heading off to do it once again, but with twice as much commitment. The look of excruciating pain, combined with her bottomless pit of dedication to her craft, haunts me and inspires me to this day.

As soon as we wrapped the scene, she went to the hospital until late in the evening, when they told her that her toe was broken. She then went straight back to work the next morning. I would not recommend this. I’m not sure if her toe has made a full recovery. Or ever will. Ever.”

She then joked, “Have you ever wondered why Sydney hasn’t worn open-toe shoes recently? Now you know.” (During her speech, Sweeney clarified, “My toe is totally fine…the toenail did fall off, but she’s back.”) Whew!

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