{"id":407917,"date":"2022-02-18T21:30:46","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T18:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/nika-king-on-leslies-epic-fight-with-rue-her-relationship-with-ali\/"},"modified":"2022-02-18T21:30:46","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T18:30:46","slug":"nika-king-on-leslies-epic-fight-with-rue-her-relationship-with-ali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/nika-king-on-leslies-epic-fight-with-rue-her-relationship-with-ali\/","title":{"rendered":"#Nika King on Leslie’s Epic Fight With Rue & Her Relationship With Ali"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Nika King on Leslie’s Epic Fight With Rue & Her Relationship With Ali<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

Euphoria<\/em>\u2018s second season has delivered some seriously chilling moments and Nika King is just one of the many talents behind them.<\/p>\n

Playing Leslie Bennett in the HBO hit, King\u2019s performance as Rue\u2019s (Zendaya) mother is certainly among the season\u2019s most notable. King\u2019s shining moment this season came in Episode 5, \u201cStand Still Like the Hummingbird,\u201d via an explosive fight with Zendaya\u2019s Rue who lashed out amid severe withdrawal symptoms. Their knock-down-drag-out fight made way for truth bombs and heartbreaking exchanges.<\/p>\n

Leslie continued to support her daughter through addiction. Despite an app<\/a>arent upswing in their home life as Rue worked on getting clean, a desperate call made by Leslie in Episode 6\u2019s final moments conveys just how tortured she is by the need to help her daughter. Below, King opens up about some of Leslie\u2019s most dramatic Season 2 moments, muses on her character\u2019s depth of understanding Rue\u2019s addiction, and much more.<\/p>\n

\"Euphoria<\/p>\n

(Credit: HBO)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There seems to have been a noticeable shift between the stakes in Season 1 versus Season 2. What has your experience of working on Season 2 been like in comparison to last time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nika King: <\/strong>Well, it\u2019s been a combination of things. Season 1 was amazing, I was super excited about how it went, how people responded to it. Then of course we had the pandemic and it went away for a while. When Season 2 came, we knew that the fans were going to love where Sam [Levinson] was taking the story. It was just so juicy and you had to sit on it. We had a table read on that Friday before the pandemic and we were supposed to shoot that Monday. It was like we were so excited, so ready to go, and then the world shut down. But I think it was definitely worth the wait.<\/p>\n

Well worth the wait. And a lot is going on for the Bennetts right now. In the most recent episode, \u201cA Thousand Little Trees of Blood,\u201d Leslie makes a phone call in which she tries getting Rue into an in-patient rehab. Does that desperation come from concern for Rue\u2019s health or is it partly to do with saving Gia (Storm Reid) from the drama of having Rue home?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think Leslie has been down this road before, especially in Season 1 when Rue overdoses. I think she understands that she has to be in in-patient rehab. She can\u2019t do this being home and we see over the course of a couple of days, she\u2019s going through withdrawals. But I think her plea at the end, she\u2019s really grappling with the fact that Rue is suicidal because she\u2019s gone to an extent of stealing drugs from a drug dealer and going off the rails completely. Leslie understands that, she knows that, she wants to protect Gia at the same time and just keep their family safe. I think the best thing, in the show, is to remove Rue from the household so she can get the help she needs.<\/p>\n

\"Euphoria<\/p>\n

(Credit: HBO)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The vibes at home were definitely improved over the episode prior as Ali (Colman Domingo) came over to cook dinner with the Bennett gals. What has it been like getting work more with Colman this season, and is it a good thing to have Ali around so much?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen, life happens, right? Things can always go wrong. We hope for the best, but things can always go the other way. But first and foremost, Colman is amazing. He\u2019s a beautiful human being. We became really cool after shooting our scenes. But as far as the storyline between Leslie and Ali, he is an addict, and unfortunately, once you\u2019re an addict, you\u2019re always an addict. You\u2019re not active per se, but you always have that sensibility to maybe go and use again. So I think for now, within the story, it feels good to have someone who understands Leslie, someone she can talk to and confide in. If it goes romantic, we\u2019ll see. But I think just having that support system in place is important for Leslie\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n

Leslie certainly needs the support considering the severity of Rue\u2019s addiction. Do you think she understands how serious Rue\u2019s situation is with Laurie (Martha Kelly)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I think Rue is definitely going down the wrong path. Leslie understands that she\u2019s taking care of her daughter, she\u2019s looking at her body, she\u2019s bathing her, she understands that something went down. Now, whether they\u2019ve had a conversation about it, I think Leslie just knows in her mind, my daughter is definitely on a path to destroy herself. So going back to Episode 6 is just that heart cry of a mother\u2019s last resort. I see that going a little deeper for the next couple of episodes and possibly Season 3.<\/p>\n

\"Euphoria<\/p>\n

(Credit: HBO)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Considering these darker moments, it may surprise some people to know that you\u2019re more experienced with comedy. Do you approach drama differently from comedy? Is there more pressure involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Definitely different prep, different technique. It\u2019s interesting because I was on Twitter<\/a> and Robin Williams was trending and I saw people just give him his props for being such a dramatic actor and a comedian. I thought, \u201cit\u2019s nice to have both of those skill sets.\u201d I think it just comes from pain. You tell jokes and you be silly and you make people laugh because you know what it\u2019s like to hurt and go through things that are not good. But I think for me, it\u2019s just my natural ability to be funny and silly.<\/p>\n

Drama actually was more challenging because I didn\u2019t want to expose myself. I don\u2019t want to cry in front of people. In my mind, before I started therapy in my twenties, crying was a weakness. So I\u2019m glad I was able to do this role now as opposed to back then because I probably wouldn\u2019t have given the performances that I needed to bring Leslie\u2019s story to life.<\/p>\n

\"Euphoria<\/p>\n

(Credit: HBO)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Things can definitely get heavy on this show. Between intense scenes with Zendaya and Storm Reid, is joking imperative to lighten the mood? Or does that disrupt the process?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019ve learned from Season 1 not to do that actually. So I don\u2019t joke, I do my best not to. I kind of stay away from Z and Stormy because we\u2019re always being silly so it\u2019s like I need to have my blinders on and be in my meditation and not be laughing because it\u2019s hard to go back and forth between being in the character and then being myself. So for this season, I learned no laughing, no joking, I\u2019m your mother. I\u2019ll be in character. I\u2019ll talk to them like I\u2019m their mother. That\u2019s the best way to do it because I want to be ready when it\u2019s time to go. I don\u2019t want to have to spend so much time getting into character because I\u2019m off on the side, playing with Z or trying to do a TikTok with Stormy.<\/p>\n

When it comes to capturing those deeper moments, what\u2019s the collaborative process like with showrunner Sam Levinson? Is there room for improvisation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Definitely, like the scene in Episode 5, when I say, \u201cI raised you,\u201d I\u2019ve heard my mom say that a million times to me as a teenager and even now as an adult. Moms have a way of bringing you back to reality like, \u201cDon\u2019t get it twisted. I still raised you. I\u2019m still your mom.\u201d So when I had my script the night before, I just had little one-liners that I could say throughout the scene that I\u2019ve heard my mom say [and] other moms say to their kids. So I\u2019ll come in and check in with him. Sam is a celebratory being for other creatives. He wants you to feel free to do what it is that makes sense within the scope of the scene but it\u2019s all a collaborative process.<\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

Is there any improv within those fight scenes at all or is it mostly choreographed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, the bones are there, right? Sam gives us the structure of what\u2019s going to happen, how it\u2019s going to happen, and then we just put the meat on. Putting the meat on, it heightens every time. Because, yeah, she\u2019s kicking the door and as the audience, you see that, but it was so much more that happened at that moment. And the great thing is Sam knows how to use every moment to tell the story.<\/p>\n

How much reset is involved in filming those sequences? There was a lot of destruction between the door bashing and Rue\u2019s room.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. It\u2019s a hot set. It\u2019s always hot. Once it happens, it happens. I think we did that scene when she destroys the door one time. Once she did it we worked around it. And the resets for the fights are intense because it\u2019s a lot of people in that room. It\u2019s the boom guy. It\u2019s the DP, it\u2019s the this, it\u2019s the that, so there\u2019s always this dance of making sure that the boom isn\u2019t hanging down. It\u2019s fun though, because at the end of the day, it\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, we did it, we nailed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t even begin to imagine where the final episodes will take us. What should viewers anticipate heading into the final episodes of Season 2?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have watched Episode 7. I don\u2019t think anyone has watched Episode 8. Everybody is going to be in for a shock. When we were getting emails throughout production, we didn\u2019t get the whole script [for Episode 8]. I only got my scene, so I think Episode 8 is going to be a surprise. I know what I shot, but I don\u2019t think anyone has seen it in its entirety, so we\u2019re all going to be pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n

Surprised in a good or bad way? Should we be scared?
<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know. We just have to wait.<\/p>\n

Episode 7 is teasing Lexi\u2019s (Maude Apatow) play which looks like it will be an intense situation for certain characters. What can you tease about that event\u2019s impact on the characters? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be an intense experience for everybody. Let\u2019s just say that. Everybody. And I love how [Sam] wrote a play within a play and how he wrote it in a way [where] it\u2019s all happening in real-time. Yeah, I can\u2019t really say too much, but it\u2019s going to be drama.<\/p>\n

Euphoria<\/strong><\/em>, Season 2, Sundays, 9\/8c, HBO and HBO Max <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n