Openly gay actor Coleman Domingo, who can be seen in the Netflix film Rustin is shutting down allegations of toxicity on the set of Euphoria.
via Variety:
Domingo, who portrays recovering drug addict Ali Muhammad on “Euphoria,” recently told the Independent that he did not have the same experience as the ones stated in these reports — which emerged around the release of the HBO series’ second season in 2022 — and that rumors of onset chaos are overblown.
“I’m not gonna invalidate [anyone’s] experience. But working in television is long hours,” Domingo said. “Sometimes you work up to 14 hours a day. And then you have to go home and prep. You have to really live and work in a very methodical way. A lot of young actors may not be up for the task, or have that same work ethic.”“I’ve been in this business for 32 years,” he continued. “I know what hard work is. So when I heard those ‘reports,’ I thought, ‘Where is this coming from? That’s just a normal work day.’ Be a professional.”
Domingo also praised “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson, who reportedly had a falling out with series regular Barbie Ferreira over the direction of her character, Kat. This led to Ferreira allegedly storming off set and Levinson cutting back Kat’s role in the season.
“There’s no one that’s going to mistreat you on the set of ‘Euphoria,’” Domingo said. “Sam Levinson is joyful, and collaborative, and could not be a bigger advocate for his actors.”
In February of 2022, the Daily Beast published a report in which background actors on the series claimed there were “multiple complaints made to SAG-AFTRA over the production failing to provide them meals on time and refusing to let people use the bathroom,” among other issues. HBO defended “Euphoria” against these toxic production claims, and a source close to the series told Variety that no formal complaints were ever filed to SAG-AFTRA.
“Euphoria” cast member Jacob Elordi also defended the series’ long filming hours at the time. “We’re making movies, you know what I mean?” he told Variety after the Season 2 finale. “I mean that in the broad sense, like this is filmmaking. And whilst you shouldn’t suffer, to me there’s great value in working hard. And for every hour that I’ve personally put in on that set, I can see it when I watch the show, and I can feel it when I’m walking on the street and people love the show.”
I love me some Coleman, but he has to realize that everyone's experience is different. There have been many time I've been on set as a background actor, and I would see numerous SAG-AFTRA background actors calling their union to make complaints regarding on-set treatment.
So while Coleman (who is a seasoned actor) may have had a great experience, he shouldn't diminish the experiences of his fellow actors. Now if actors were complaining about working long hours, they clearly must be new because if you want to be an actor being on set for 14-16 hours is a requirement.
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