Chace Crawford Almost Had Panic Attack Before The Boys’ Octopus Scene

Chace Crawford, star of “The Boys,” revealed he “almost had a panic attack” before filming a sex scene with an octopus voiced by Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton.

Crawford, 38, gained fame playing Nate Archibald in “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012. Since 2019, he has portrayed the aquatic superhero The Deep in the superhero satire “The Boys.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Crawford recounted the moment he found out that his character would not only speak to sea animals but also be required to have an on-screen sex scene with an octopus named Ambrosius. “It’s so funny and brilliant now, but when that came up, I was like, ‘Oh God, how’s this going to work?'” Crawford said.

Describing the filming process, Crawford expressed his concerns to showrunner Eric Kripke: “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.”

“I called Kripke – he’s so great. He’s got a million things going on, but his door’s always open. So I was worried about the scene,” Crawford continued. “I’m like, ‘How are we gonna do this? What are the angles gonna be? How naked do I have to be?’ He changed one shot for me. And it was great.”

When asked whether there was an intimacy coordinator present during the scene, Crawford replied: “We have one on set. But not with the octopus. But they treated it like, ‘quiet everyone, clear out’ – a closed set.”

Crawford told Rolling Stone that the act of picking up the octopus and getting a wet octopus in bed was both funny and weird. He further added, “It’s so bizarre. And then it didn’t come out for almost a year, and you’re like, ‘How is this going to be received?’ But everyone loved it.”

Crawford shared an anecdote about a recent encounter at the gym, where someone showed him a photo of himself dressed as The Deep with a pink octopus wrapped around him, taken at Comic-Con. “Everyone loved it, man. I get ragged on a little bit, but it’s good,” Crawford said.

Last month, Kripke told Variety that Swinton’s casting as the octopus Ambrosius came about after the writers’ room decided they needed “the classiest, Oscar-winningest, British actress we can get our hands on.” Kripke joked that the list was short, and Dame Judi Dench was unavailable.

Crawford told CinemaBlend he was thrilled with the casting of Swinton. “When they said that Tilda Swinton was doing it, I just started crying laughing because she must have a great sense of humor to want to come and play with us in this insane scene and give life to Ambrosius, finally,” he said.

He added, “And it makes the scene so much funnier and real. She’s got this real beautiful voice, and it’s just hilarious to me.”

Earlier this week, Crawford’s co-star Erin Moriarty quieted internet critics who targeted her appearance. Previously, she had called out journalist Megyn Kelly for questioning whether she had plastic surgery, calling Kelly’s comments “counterproductive to the degree of being ironically misogynistic.”

Moriarty took to Instagram to address the issue, captioning a photo: “Haters will say {literally everything and anything that pops into their head}. So post it & ghost it. (And sleep tight),” before turning off the comments. Crawford responded with a red heart emoji.

Source: Rolling Stone, Variety, CinemaBlend