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Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Entertainment
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Entertainment
Sydney Sweeney has spoken out about having to 'fight' for other roles after starring in Euphoria and The White Lotus.
As a result of playing two high school students, Sydney Sweeney is beginning to fall into the trap of being viewed by some people in the film and TV industry as easy to typecast.
But this isn't what the 25-year-old wants, and she's pushing back hard to not be pigeonholed.
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Sweeney explains there are 'always people who see [her] as Cassie or see [her] as Olivia'.
The character of Cassie Howard in Euphoria is that of a popular high school student who fears being alone and so throws herself into relationships with boys at her school, despite them not being good for her.
In The White Lotus, Sweeney takes on a similar role of Olivia Mossbacher - a college teenager. However, where Cassie is quite quiet and meek, Olivia is outwardly confident, snarky and a pretty nasty piece of work.
Sweeney notes that, off the back of playing these two characters, she's often sent scripts for roles which are 'just like' Cassie and Olivia.
Sweeney subsequently has to 'fight for' roles which branch away from the role of a high school student.
She tells Variety: "It’s the ones I have to fight for that usually are the ones that I want that are different, like Reality. I had to audition for it. I had to put myself on tape and send in my audition just like everybody else.
"It was the same for White Lotus. They didn’t think that I was right for ‘White Lotus,’ because I did Euphoria So I put myself on tape, I auditioned for White Lotus just like everybody else and had a call back like everybody else.
"I could get offered roles that are similar to the ones that I’ve played, but the ones that are different, the ones that surprise people that I do, are the ones that I usually have to fight for."
Sweeney's fight against always being typecast is, however, paying off.
The 25-year-old stars in upcoming release Reality, in which she plays the gritty role of ex-intelligence specialist Reality Winner, who was arrested by FBI officers in 2017 over her alleged role in the mishandling of classified information.
The role was an 'exciting new experience' for Sweeney, who was able to 'find all the different layers underneath' the actual transcript between Winner and the FBI on the day she was arrested.
"It humanised an experience that became so politicised," Sweeney reflects.
Despite wanting to stop herself from always being typecast, that's not to say Sweeney didn't enjoy throwing herself into the role of Cassie in Euphoria and that she's not excited to do it all again for season three.
She says: "I just hope that I get to continue to challenge myself as an actor and get to go to crazy places through her, because she’s such a crazy, dramatically heightened character and it’s fun to play her. [...] I'm excited."
Season three of Euphoria isn't expected to debut until 2025, but if you're wanting to catch Sweeney on screen sooner, Reality is set for release on 2 June, so you've only got a few more days left to wait.