‘Euphoria’: Hunter Schafer calls Jules special ‘cathartic’

Warning: this post contains spoilers from this week’s special episode of ‘Euphoria’.

Hunter Schafer screamed for half an hour, sobbing and slamming her body against a door as she shot the final episode of ‘Euphoria’.

The 22-year-old actress described it as the “most physically demanding scene” she has ever filmed for the grim HBO drama, which became famous during its first season for graphic depictions of violence, sex and hard drugs. This series did not involve any of the above – just Schafer in character as Jules, a closed door and a devastating fear of what awaits on the other side.

The disturbing dream series takes place at the end of Friday’s “Euphoria” special, which sees Jules in a long state of vulnerability and introspection. During the intense nightmare, Jules arrives at her imaginary New York City apartment to find her soulmate, Rue (Zendaya), in high school alone and unresponsive in their bathroom.

Jules’ increasingly desperate pleas to “open the door” are treated with ominous silence – an extension of last month’s episode, which saw the self-destructive Rue in a shared dream image.

“It was like letting the worst of Jules’ imagination take over,” Schafer said during a video call from New York City. “Which was really hard, because even personally I love Rue so much and don’t like to think about the images I had to come up with in my head and be able to sit for that scene.”

The episode is now airing on HBO Max and continues the creative evolution of Schafer. Born in Raleigh, NC, she worked as a popular runway model in New York in her late teens before making her debut in 2019 with ‘Euphoria’, in which she portrays the vibrant new girl in town who has a romantic and sometimes toxic relationship with her drug addicted best friend. Schafer also co-wrote with creator and showrunner Sam Levinson co-creator and co-executive of the episode, entitled “F — Everyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob.”

“Sam is super cooperative and has been from the start,” Schafer says. “He really wants us all as actors to have input into our characters and their livelihoods.

‘To take it to the next level by really having a hand in what [Jules is] saying – and also in an episode that allows us to stay with her for a much longer period than we could ever do in season 1 – it was just very exciting. ”

In October, ‘F— Everyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob’ was filmed after the emotional season 1 finale, in which Jules fled home to the city and left a deserted street. Now Jules is back in suburbia – and in therapy – to unpack the trauma that led to her climax breakaway.

During a brainstorming session for the hour-long character study, Schafer and Levinson, in turn, pretended to be Jules and her therapist and suggested what might happen in conversation between a counselor and a 17-year-old in a crisis.

“I would say that a lot of the episode – especially the therapy session – was born out of us, only to tear up and maybe accidentally fall into character while we were on the phone,” Schafer says. ‘There’s a play I did not understand before about writing. We only acted telephonically, and I found it so helpful and also fun to contribute to the script. ‘

The collaboration was therapeutic, not only for Jules, but also for Schafer, who struggled to adjust to life in quarantine. The production of ‘Euphoria’s Season 2 was postponed just three days before it was due to start in March, and a’ perhaps too optimistic ‘Schafer did not expect to spend months in isolation.

“It was a rude awakening,” she says. ‘I think we all grabbed hope [the pandemic] would be something that might last a month or two. And then it also started to disappear. We all just surrendered to quarantine and stoves in our homes. ”

Schafer, who was a self-proclaimed workaholic, was forced to slow down the mental health issues that have long lurked beneath the surface.

“To really have to sit by myself and not have a goal was scary and raised a lot of things, maybe I haven’t processed yet,” she says. “I’m a drug now, and I feel more like I have in years …. It sucked at the time because it really was an accident and burn, but I’m so grateful for that.”

The key to Schafer’s healing process was to resume work on “Euphoria” in a new creative role. Shortly after Levinson wrote the first holiday special of the series, with Zendaya as Rue, he and Schafer began generating ideas for a sequel from Jules’ perspective.

Schafer shared with him a poem she wrote at the end of high school:

“It was about this strange spiral I had about hormone therapy and an analogy to learning how to find beauty in yourself,” says Schafer, who is trans like her character. “Like, rather than wanting to be as beautiful as another woman, to be just as beautiful as something even bigger, like the sea.”

Schafer’s reflection became the inspiration for ‘F – Someone who is not a sea block’, during which Jules considers giving up her hormones after coming to the self-critical realization that she ‘frames her whole womanhood around men’ .

‘Being trans is spiritual’ for her, Jules explains to her therapist and she does not want to ‘stand still’.

‘She is rightly undergoing an interrogation of [herself] and the decisions [she’s] made before – not because they were wrong in any way, but just because she develops as a human being and will understand herself in a deeper way, ”says Schafer.

“Gender and self-expression are incredibly fluid and incredibly changing,” she continues. ‘And I think it’s very emotional … and psychological in a way that goes beyond political gender assumptions of men and women. This is … not a fun way or a fruitful way to inhabit your generation. ‘

In addition to the therapy session, the episode features a mix of dream and fantasy series – such as the nightmare of the apartment – as well as flashbacks that provide further insight into Jules’ complicated relationship with her mother and with Rue, who are both struggling with addiction.

‘Euphoria’ earlier gave a glimpse into Jules’ traumatic history with her mother, who is largely absent from the program. But Friday’s delivery makes an explicit link between Jules’ tumultuous upbringing and concerns about Rue’s fragile hold on austerity.

“Jules doesn’t think much of it, because it’s something that bothers and hurts her,” says Schafer about the absence of Jules’ mother. ‘It makes sense in a way that she and Rue got together … it also makes sense why they have the conflict they do, in that there are many parallels between what Jules’ mother went through and what Rue goes through. ”

At the end of Friday’s episode, Rue and Jules (affectionately called #Rules by fans) are briefly reunited for the first time since the final season 1. But this is not exactly a fairytale reunion.

“I know Jules would have done anything to be held by Rue in the moment, after all that has happened,” Schafer said.

‘Rue is not capable of doing that, and perhaps Jules was not either. But … you can see that there is still a vulnerable, raw love between them. ‘

Although their mid-pandemic material was heavy, even by “Euphoria” standards, Schafer was eager to return to the film opposite Zendaya, who won her historic lead actress at the Emmy Awards in 2020.

“It was difficult,” Schafer said. ‘But she’s also the playmate I’d spent the most time with and shared the most emotionally with, so I always feel very comfortable with her and excited to see what’s going on, because we both love our characters’ connection very much. ”

Schafer was cautious about announcing what the pair are up to in season 2, and only part of the two will reconsider their relationship. (“It’s so vague!” She says and laughs. “I’m sorry. I do not want to get in trouble!”)

It remains unclear when Schafer will be able to visit Jules again. No announcements were made about the production of the second season. But more can be written in Schafer’s future.

“It really was the most cathartic artistic experience I have ever had,” she says. “It was really special to be able to put so much of yourself into a single product.”