Actor Chace Crawford says a scene in which he had to simulate sex with an octopus came as a total surprise and almost led him to have a panic attack.
The 38-year-old, who rose to fame playing Nate Archibald in Gossip Girl, has played one of the lead characters in all four series of the satirical superhero show The Boys on Amazon Prime.
However, he had no idea his role as Kevin Moskowitz, aka The Deep – whose powers include breathing underwater and the ability to talk to sea animals – had such a demanding scene in store when he first took on the role back in 2019.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, he said he might have thought twice about taking on the part if he’d known about it.
On seeing it in the script for episode six of season three for the first time, Crawford said he thought: “Oh God, how’s this going to work?”
Going on, he admitted: “I was in total denial about it. And then it got 24 hours out from the first day I had to shoot it and I almost had a panic attack.”
Pic: Amazon Prime Studios
Crawford says he called showrunner Eric Kripke, working through the way the scene would be shot, asking: “How are we gonna do this? What are the angles gonna be? How naked do I have to be?”
He adds that in the end just one shot was changed, and the filming went well.
The octopus, which is named Ambrosius, is voiced by Oscar-winning British actress Tilda Swinton.
While Crawford says it was a closed set (when only the essential crew members are allowed to stay on set due to the filming of a sensitive scene,) he says the production’s intimacy coordinator was not involved with the filming.
He admits: “Just the act of picking up the octopus and getting a wet octopus in the bed was so funny and weird.”
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Pic: Amazon Prime Studios
Crawford says the long gap between filming and when the episodes air also added to his anxiety. “It doesn’t come out for a year almost [after you’ve filmed it], and you’re like, ‘How is this going to be received?’,” he explains.
However, he says fans have largely loved his performance, and sometimes even approach him to say so.
“I saw someone at the gym the other day and he was like, ‘I’m actually going to show you this.’
“And it was him in a Deep costume with a pink octopus wrapped around him at Comic-Con or something. Everyone loved it, man. I get ragged on a little bit, but it’s good.”
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All four series of The Boys are available on Amazon Prime Video now.