Crawford acknowledged the efforts of showrunner Eric Kripke when filming the infamous octopus intimate scenes.
Renowned for his performance in “The Boys,” Chace Crawford has expressed concerns about shooting the infamous octopus sequences in the Prime Video series’s fourth season.
Crawford said he “would have” changed his mind about joining the show knowing about his character The Deep’s close friendship with the octopus, Ambrosius, portrayed by Tilda Swinton.
Crawford said in an interview with Rolling Stone, “It’s so funny and brilliant now, but when that came up, I was like, ‘Oh God, how’s this going?'”
The actor spoke of how creator Eric Kripke developed the intimate moments, noting his initial incredulity upon initially having to film an intimate scene involving the sea creature in the season 3 episode ‘Herogasm.’
“And then it got 24 hours out from the first day I had to shoot it and I almost had a panic attack,” Crawford added. he complimented his support. “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. 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.”
Crawford also said that although the show features an intimacy coordinator for some moments, this did not apply to the octopus scenes. “But they treated it like, ‘quiet everyone, clear out’ — a closed set. 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?'”
The sequence was well-received despite his early misgivings. “But everyone loved it,” Crawford said. “I saw someone at the gym the other day and he was like, ‘I’m 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.”
Kripke told Variety Swinton was cast to voice Ambrosius, saying they sought “the classiest, Oscar-winningest, British actress we can get our hands on.” He added, “And that’s a really short list. And Dame Judi Dench was unavailable.”
Kripke said, “To Swinton’s ‘everlasting credit,’ she didn’t know any of us, but she was like, ‘That sounds hilarious, I’m in, and she did it.”