
There’s this crotchety narrative around Euphoria sometimes, where people say, “Where are the parents? How are they letting these kids run wild?” How do you respond to that? Linda, in heaven, if you’re watching, Suze is based on you. She did not act like an authority figure. She was so likable and sweet and loving and she acted like a big sister. Linda Morales was everyone’s best friend. So I started reading the script and I thought, Oh, who is this drunk mom, Suze, who sits at the table and asks Zendaya questions? She reminded me of one my best friend’s mothers growing up, Linda Morales. That won’t be believable unless she was adopted.

And then there was a rumor going around that Zendaya was going to be cast as the lead, and I thought, Well, I don’t have a chance being cast as Zendaya’s mother. Originally, I was up for Zendaya’s mother, but Zendaya hadn’t been cast yet. I can’t believe Zendaya-on days she doesn’t work, she will come by the set just to cheer us on. They’re so well-mannered and sweet and humble, and they’re all about the work. It’s so impressive to see this in actors in their 20s who are experiencing history being made as far as pop culture is concerned. Even Maude Apatow, whose mother and father are quite well-known, and she’s taken over the family business, there is an innocence to her. You meet them in person and think, Oh, their parents did an amazing job raising these kids. It must be the casting it’s the brilliance of Mary Vernieu and Sam Levinson that they managed to find these children that have bottomless talent, but at the end of the day, they are quite innocent. When I was a child first starting out, it was the late-’80s and there was a jadedness to many of my contemporaries. The stamina of these kids is like nothing I’ve ever seen before and I’ve been doing this for decades. I mean, he must have done at least 763,000 takes. They just nailed it, obviously, hair and makeup and wardrobe, but then he did have that overall laissez faire, “anything goes” air about him. When I saw him walking down the hallway in that wig and in that high push-up bra with his glass of wine in his hand-and I always made sure that ice cubes were in my fake prop glass of wine-I about lost it. Apparently, he watched a lot of footage of me before. What did you make of Austin Abrams’s (Ethan’s) performance of you in the play within the show? Did you talk about it with him beforehand? I can only imagine that feeling a mother would have watching, let’s say, Natalia Makarova on stage, or the parents of Justin Bieber, when you see that kid pick up the guitar for the first time and they’re just naturally gifted. To finally discover, for the first time, how brilliant your child is. What was Suze’s internal, emotional journey, watching Lexi’s play? How does parenting a four-year-old-and being a mom in real life-impact your performance? I have a four-year-old and he thinks he’s a teenager and anytime he’s sad or mad about someone not talking to him at his preschool, I’m depressed the entire day, too. But Cassie, I’m sure, reminds me of how I was as a young girl and I see myself in her and once she gets histrionic, I suddenly get histrionic.

There’s that wonderful saying, “You are only as happy as your saddest child.” Lexi is someone I don’t have to worry about, thank God.

How does Suze look at the balance between her two daughters?

Then you’re in the audience during Our Life, looking like you’re feeling this enormous pride for Lexi. I think it just adds a little bit of lightness to the situation, because, my God, in so much pain and in so much trouble, and she has no one to turn to. Sam doesn’t stop painting, so he probably added funnier dialogue. I think Sam Levinson gave Suze more of a life. As crazy as Suze is, there’s a side of her that’s quite wise and she knows these kids are gonna figure it out one way or another, but most importantly, My Saturday is being ruined. It is the only time when she can day-drink and enjoy her favorite television shows, and she has this very promiscuous daughter on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Here’s this woman who probably only gets Saturdays to herself because she’s hoping her kids are at their boyfriends’ houses, or the mall. I was not watching my Millionaire Matchmaker. Well, that scene was actually rewritten the night before.
