- "The Boys" actor Chace Crawford said he almost had a panic attack before a sex scene with an octopus.
- Crawford told Rolling Stone the showrunner helped to make him feel more comfortable.
- Crawford is the latest to speak out about the challenges of shooting intimate scenes.
"The Boys" actor Chace Crawford said he nearly had a panic attack the day before filming a scene where he has sex with an octopus.
"The Boys," Amazon Prime's hit Emmy-winning superhero show, is known for its numerous grotesque and weird sexual moments.
Initially, fans loved these sensational scenes, but they are starting to question whether the series prioritizes shock value over its storyline after a sexual assault scene in season four.
One such shocking sex scene occurs in season three, episode six when Crawford's character, The Deep, is caught by another character with an octopus on his penis.
In an interview with Rolling Stone published on Sunday, Crawford said he was initially worried about the sex scene.
"I was in total denial about it," Crawford said. "And then it got 24 hours out from the first day I had to shoot it, and I almost had a panic attack."
Crawford said the series has an intimacy coordinator to ensure actors are comfortable filming sex scenes, but he said they weren't involved during the octopus scene.
Instead, Crawford called Eric Kripke, "The Boys" showrunner, about his apprehensions. Kripke organized a closed set, with only the actors and necessary crewmembers in the room, and changed how the scene was filmed.
"I was worried about the scene. I'm like, 'How are we gonna do this? What are the angles gonna be? How naked do I have to be?'" Crawford said. "He changed one shot for me. And it was great."
He added: "But yeah, just the act of picking up the octopus and getting a wet octopus in the bed was so funny and weird. And then it doesn't come out for a year almost, and you're like, 'How is this going to be received?' But everyone loved it."
Film and TV have long featured sex scenes, but it's only recently that multiple stars, including Victoria Justice and Emilia Clarke, have spoken up about how uncomfortable it is to film them.
Over the last six years, intimacy coordinators have become more prominent in major movie and TV productions in light of concerns after the #MeToo Movement.
Actors, including many "Bridgerton" stars, have said this has helped improve their experience of filming sex scenes.