When Cal unloads to his family, he talks a lot about being boxed in by the expectations of who he should be. And I just think Sam likes me better than everybody. He is such a deep and complex character, and I think it's interesting for Sam to explore. And my son, Nate, is such a central figure in the greater story, and Cal was always going to be a central figure in this piece. But I think the adults play an important role in this story too, because we have to see the dynamics and conditions the younger cast live under. Why do you think he and his story get that distinction?Įric Dane: The younger adults are fantastic and precocious and wonderfully talented actors. Men's Health: Cal is the really the only adult character on the show who has a role comparable in size and depth to the younger ensemble. At some point, he's going to reach his breaking point." Men's Health talked to Dane about walking on a knife's edge for the scene, grappling with the expectations we have of masculinity in his own life, and the release of emotional unburdening yourself with you penis out. And he's been living this double-life for the better part of his adulthood. I mean, you know, Cal is a deeply conflicted character.
"My first thought when I read the script was, I better start working on this right now! Because it's a lot of words," he says. It's like watching an exorcism, but performed in the foyer of a McMansion. Dane bounces between tragedy and dark comedy, self-hatred and self-acceptance, and deep-cutting reads on not only his own secrets but those of his family. The scene is long and devastating, as Cal vacillates between casual cruelty and delivering long-overdue truths. Much of it with his penis still out the silent fifth member of the scene. So I was endeavoring to find the similarities between the different Cals in those moments."Ĭal's arc hits a crescendo when he arrives home drunk in the middle of the night, promptly pees onto the hardwood floor, and proceeds to unload a lifetime of internalized trauma onto his wife and son. Cal's a different guy than he was when he was 17 years old. "At the same time, I'm kind of doing my own thing. "I definitely wanted to match the physicality of the old Cal in that moment where he's remembering Derek so vividly that he actually sees him," Dane says. When present-day Cal returns to the bar during a bender, we learn he hasn't stepped foot back into a space where he can openly be himself for nearly 25 years.ĭane read those flashbacks in the script, and then Euphoria creator Sam Levinson played him some footage from those scenes to help root adult Cal in his younger self. Cal and Derek spend a night at a gay bar, and it's the only time we see Cal unfettered, unburdened, and free. The summer before college, he and his best friend Derek begin to explore their feelings with each other, but are cut short when Cal's then-girlfriend Marsha announces that she's pregnant. This season, as Cal unravels on his warpath to retrieve a tape of his night with Jules ( Hunter Schafer), the trans high school girl his son is secretly in love with, we're given a glimpse into his own youth in flashbacks.
His toxic masculinity has metastasized into his son Nate ( Jacob Elordi), whose even more violent tendencies are rooted in his own struggles with sexual insecurity. Cal (played by Eric Dane) has long been the alpha dog of his community, but his machismo hides a lifelong struggle with his sexuality, which manifests as hook-ups with young gay men and trans women that he secretly films. But the messiest shenanigans of Season 2, Episode 4 didn't come from the show's young ensemble, but from one of their parents. It's depiction of teen angst is dialed up to 11, causing more than a few parents watching the show to panic just a little.
E uphoria has a reputation for doing the most.