Zendaya almost missed out on ‘Euphoria’ role to first-time actor

It may be impossible for you to imagine Euphoria’s Rue Bennett being played by anyone else after Zendaya’s iconic and moving portrayal. However, casting director Jennifer Vendetti has revealed that was almost the case.

While speaking to Variety, Venditti explained that Zendaya was always first choice for the part of Bennett, but at one stage, the HBO series had its eye on an unknown talent.

“There was a young woman who had been street scouted by my team who was a magical person and had a similar trajectory as Rue and had come around to the other side,” Venditti said, in reference to Rue’s struggles with drug addiction. “But with a TV show, it can be many years [of work]. We all loved her, but when we went through the rigour of the process, we didn’t know if she could handle what it would take in terms of stamina.”

The casting director even assigned the young star an acting coach in the hope of preparing her for the emotional weight of the show. However, she and series creator Sam Levinson weren’t convinced that she was ready to take on the project.

She added, “It’s so interesting. A polar opposite. Because here’s Zendaya, who has none of the life experiences of Rue, who was able to dig into her toolbox and access it in such a beautiful way.”

Venditti also explained how Hunter Schafer was given the role of Jules despite having no prior acting experience. “I reached out to her agent and they originally passed. [The actor] had to be open to any kind of sexual situations. So imagine that you were not really thinking of acting, and someone brings an opportunity with possible nudity,” said Venditti. “I was like, ‘Can we just meet?’ Obviously, I’d respect her decision if that was something that, ultimately, she wasn’t comfortable with. But I didn’t feel comfortable just not having a discussion about it to see what her thoughts were and to explain what it was.”