Sydney Sweeney On Euphoria, The Return of The Rom Com And Why Australia Is Her Second Home

Sydney Sweeney could write a love letter to the city that shares her name. As we speak over Zoom, the 26-year-old American asks where I am. “Sydney,” I reply, and her eyes grow wide with yearning. “Lucky!” she exclaims.

She would know. The actor spent several months at the start of 2023 shooting her latest film, Anyone But You, with co-star Glen Powell in Australia’s sparkling harbour city, and it’s very apparent she fell in love with the place while she was here.

Ask most international stars what their favourite part of Sydney was and the majority will say Bondi. Not Sweeney, who ventured a little further to discover her favourite slice of Aussie paradise. “I went to this place called Palm Beach [on Sydney’s Northern Beaches] and I really, truly loved my time there. I am desperate to go back. Glen and I had lunch at this little restaurant, I can’t remember the name but it’s white, has a big balcony and this really cool giant mirror on the back wall covered in shells.”

“Barrenjoey House,” I offer. “That’s it! It was awesome. We sat there for hours, downloaded an Australian real estate app and were looking at what it would cost to live there.”

In their down-time, Sweeney made it her mission to arrange sightseeing adventures for the cast and crew, from donning hot-pink ponchos and riding an open-top bus across the Harbour Bridge in the teeming rain to dancing her butt off in a box at a Harry Styles concert at Accor Stadium. “It was so much fun,” she recalls. “I love Harry. He’s a good friend. It was really cool to go see him perform. And the whole energy of the stadium was awesome.”

Both young, gorgeous and with buzzy projects in their wake (Powell appeared alongside Tom Cruise and Miles Teller in 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick), the stars of the Will Gluck-directed rom-com caused quite a stir while they were in town. And the paparazzi were hot on their heels, capturing the on-screen couple filming steamy scenes on the beach and a big whirlwind romantic gesture moment on the steps of the Opera House, proving that the city itself gets a starring role in the enemies-to-lovers rom-com.

“The script was originally set in Europe and I was like, ‘Let’s find somewhere new,’ ” explains the actor, who also produced the film. “I’ve never really seen a lot of movies that are actually based
in Australia. It’s become a popular location to film movies but it’s often used to replicate another place.

We got to film in Australia and show off Australia, which was really cool because there’s so many beautiful things about Sydney, especially where you have the Sydney Opera House, the harbour, the beaches. We also got to embrace the culture. I hope people see our movie and all want to travel to Sydney.”

The year has been one long endless summer for Sweeney, who flew home to a Californian summer after wrapping Anyone But You in Australia. Just as the weather started to chill down for the Northern Hemisphere winter, the actor was back on a plane headed Down Under. She was spotted with Powell reshooting a couple of scenes in late October, but as this issue hits newsstands, she’ll be deep in the Queensland rainforest shooting the Ron Howard directed Eden, with co-stars Ana de Armas, Jude Law and Vanessa Kirby.

“I’ve been told [Queensland’s Gold Coast] is the Miami of Australia, and I’m not sure how I feel about that,” Sweeney says, laughing. “I might have to squeeze in a few Sydney weekends while I’m there.”

Sydney Sweeney was born in Spokane, Washington, and had what she describes as a very happy childhood, largely spent exploring the great outdoors. “I would be building tree houses,” she recalls. “I would be running around my backyard with imaginary worlds and friends, and I’d be on adventures in the forest. I was a very outdoorsy tomboy type of kid, involved in every sport I could participate in. I was always full of energy and it was a lot of fun.”

During her teen years she was a self-confessed nerd. “I did all my homework. I was valedictorian. I got straight As. I was friends with everyone but also a little quiet. I’ve never been to a high school party. I was just kind of a homebody and hung out with my friends … I was always the designated driver. So if they needed me to …. I would come pick them up from a party to take them home and then take care of them at home. I didn’t really have a crazy high school experience. Instead I live a lot of those traumatic high school experiences through my characters.”

She certainly does. Following roles in TV series such as Everything Sucks!, The Handmaid’s Tale and Sharp Objects, as well as films including Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Sweeney shot to fame with the success of HBO’s confronting and controversial yet brilliant teen-focused series Euphoria.

The Sam Levinson show’s cast reads like a who’s who of young, hot, rising stars, including Jacob Elordi, Hunter Schafer, Alexa Demie and Maude Apatow, as well as the already seasoned A-lister Zendaya.

Zendaya is a hard act to follow, but in Euphoria’s second season it was Sweeney who shone the brightest – and stole the show – with her character Cassie Howard’s wild histrionics (relatable to some viewers and maddening to many more). It was this perfectly balanced performance that undoubtedly made her character and Sweeney’s acting skills the most talked about online and at office watercoolers, and cemented her status as the breakout star of the series.

While Cassie’s antics have audiences split (some love her, others hate her), if TikTok is anything to go by they love to hate her. Thanks to her infamous crying scene, 4am morning routine, Oklahoma outfit and that pink swimsuit moment, “Cassie Howard” has more than 10 billion views on the app and counting.

“I’m a total Cassie apologist,” I tell Sweeney. “She’s my favourite character and I dressed as her for Halloween last year.” The actor sighs with relief and breaks into one of her trademark smiles.
“I love you for that! I honestly do because I have such a soft spot for Cassie,” Sweeney says, beaming. “She means a lot to me on a human level and then also as a character. She is a blast to play. She’s so all over the place but it always comes from such a deep genuine place of either hurt, pain or even occasionally happiness. She’s misunderstood by so many but she’s just constantly wearing her emotions on her sleeve, and I really love her.”

Critics loved her too, with the actor earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2022. And it wasn’t the only Emmy nomination she received that year. Fans of The White Lotus will also know Sweeney from the first season, in which she played Olivia, the bratty teenage daughter of Connie Britton’s character, scoring her a nod for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series.

With talk of recurring White Lotus characters in future seasons, I ask Sweeney what she thinks Olivia would be doing now. “I think Olivia could have gone either way. She’s either now working for her mom in some capacity, like working at whatever company her mom’s at, or she’s completely gone ‘fuck this’ and she’s backpacking around the world … then will eventually return home
and work for her mom.”

If the opportunity came up to reprise the role, would she do it? “Hmmm … maybe,” she considers for a beat. “It would have to be the right story. If the story works for Olivia, then of course. [Creator/director] Mike White and the entire team on White Lotus are a blast. I still hang out with all of them all the time. So I would of course want to be with that group again. But Olivia was such a unique and special experience that I want to either continue that thoughtfully or keep her wrapped up.”

Pick up a copy of the January issue of marie claire Australia on sale Thursday 21st December to read the full story!