Sydney Sweeney likes to be able to jump in and out of her characters while on set.
While some actors like to stay in character for the duration of a production, or at least between takes, the Euphoria actor prefers to keep herself and her characters as separate as possible.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, she explained that she was given that advice by coach Andy McPhee, the father of actor Kodi Smit-McPhee, at the start of her career.
“I started working with Andy and we would just talk character work. It wouldn’t be rehearsing, wouldn’t be running lines, it would be truly just talking about the characters and building who they were,” she shared.
“And the number one thing he always told me was to make sure that I separated myself as much as possible from my characters. Don’t put any of my own memories, emotions, feelings, people, relationships, anything in the thoughts of my characters, so that I can jump in and out.”
Michael Mohan, the director of Sweeney’s new horror movie Immaculate, noted that she was able to switch her character on and off easily – even after shooting an unbroken take of a prolonged guttural scream of pain.
“The only thing I can say is whenever you’re on set and you see Syd do this, it’s genuinely like watching someone do a magic trick, because the instant I call cut, it’s just like, boom, back to Syd. And it’s like nothing,” he gushed.
Immaculate is in cinemas now.