'Euphoria' Season 2, Episode 5: Zendaya Opens Up About Intense Rue Intervention Scene

Zendaya is opening up about her painful experience filming the fifth episode of "Euphoria" Season 2, "Stand Still Like the Hummingbird."

The episode's opening scene features Zendaya's character Rue contending with her mother Leslie (Nika King) and sister Gia (Storm Reid) over the location of her drug stash.

In the episode, when Rue's mother and friends stage an intervention, Rue immediately flees and ends up breaking into a stranger’s house looking for drug money and running on foot from the cops. She eventually winds up begging for a fix from dangerous drug dealer Laurie (Martha Kelly).

The 25-year-old Emmy winner told Entertainment Weekly that filming the episode was "a very tough day" on set for her.

"I mean, I beat myself up. I still have some scars on my legs, and got quite a few bruises," Zendaya added.

Zendaya called the episode, which was written and directed by "Euphoria" creator Sam Levinson, the "Rue-run" episode.

Her co-star, Reid, said that Levinson had envisioned an episode where "it would just be all on the line, and we would just be going at it, trying to just tell [Rue] that she needs help" right from the start. However, the 18-year-old star admitted that it was still "challenging" to film when the day finally came.

"It's always been a really intense episode," Zendaya agreed. "The general idea was always the same, which was this idea of, we cut right into an intervention and it's Rue just ripping her life apart and setting her life on fire and kind of tearing everything to the ground to basically come to hopefully what feels like rock bottom for her."

According to Zendaya, her character's intervention haunted her, especially since she had to film it immediately after returning home from the 2021 Venice Film Festival. She described filming the scene as not only "incredibly emotionally taxing" but also physically exhausting.

"I think this whole episode, there's so much pain and it's bubbling to the surface, and it's also crossed with her withdrawing, which is extremely physically painful," she explained of her character.

Zendaya said her character has "lost all control of who she is" and continues to repeat her actions despite regretting them afterward. The "Spider-Man" star admitted that it was a "really painful cycle" to watch Rue go through.

According to the actress, it was particularly painful for her as she was "quite empathetic" and often takes on other people's "pain ... stress and fears and anxieties" as well as her own.

"I think [that scene] just allowed me to just kind of release all of that," she shared.

Zendaya said she was thankful that she was able to do so in a space where she feels comfortable and with actors and actresses she's close with. She added that after each take, they would hug and talk each other through the scene because it felt "like a war zone."

In an interview with Decider, Zendaya and Reid's co-star Hunter Schafer, who plays Jules, said she also found the emotionally charged scenes difficult to film, explaining that sometimes "the lines get blurred between real pain and performance."

"I hate watching people that I love hurting or crying. Any of that is f--king painful. So anytime I've gotta do a scene with Z where she's not in the best state of mind or Rue isn't, it hurts!" Schafer said. "It’s so sad and all you wanna do is — [makes hugging motion with arms] 'Oh, it's OK!' — But, you know, you can't for obvious reasons. It's a performance."

"Euphoria" Season 2 airs on HBO and HBO Max every Sunday at 9 p.m. EST.