Though Euphoria’s Cal Jacobs is a darker, meatier role than Dane’s previous characters, it’s not lost on the viewer how the camera lingers over his most celebrated feature: his body. A body that’s a little less painstakingly defined now, and hair that’s newly silver. Mark Sloan but make him dad. Even with the disturbing context with which we meet him, it’s clear the sheer power of his form was front and center for a reason. Much like in the now-iconic Grey’s towel scene, “Cal starts out like a punch in the face,” says Dane. He towers over Jules, who lays back on the motel bed, all skin, bones, and mini skirt. While it’s not as sexy as his introduction on Grey’s, it’s undeniably just as sexual. “The common denominator is that I’m naked,” Dane says. “But it’s a lot deeper than that. With Mark Sloan, it was absolutely more of an aesthetic, and with Cal Jacobs it’s more [that] Cal wants to control and dominate.”
It’s also that Mark Sloan existed in the universe of network television, where his towel will always remain perfectly, flirtily in place. But on Euphoria—which came under fire for having a scene where they showed a total of 30 penises in one sequence—the sex is gritty, and isn’t always fun to watch. It’s not “hanky panky” in an on-call room during a graveyard shift, it’s two people acting out their most forbidden desires. It’s angry, rough, and leaves neither truly satisfied. And Dane was willing to go the extra mile it took to portray that. “I want to do whatever I can to keep the story as truthful and honest as I can,” he says. “Obviously, I’m going to wear a prosthetic if I’m working with another actor, but there was an isolated shot where I [was alone] so didn’t have to [wear a prosthetic]. I simply said, ‘If it’s going to be better if I’m not in the prosthetic—if it’s going to be more organic, sincere, or truthful—then I’m willing to do that.’”
The decision to wear a prosthetic was informed by an intimacy coordinator, whose job it is to advocate for the well-being of actors participating in sex scenes. It’s a position that, as of fall 2018, HBO has required on all sets, and one that felt especially necessary on Euphoria, a show so extreme that one actor reportedly quit mid-shoot. Dane found that having the intimacy coordinator on set was helpful, and that it created a safety net for him, particularly while working with Schafer in her first-ever role (who he calls “fantastic” and says he recently texted to tell her how “spectacular” and “fun” she is to watch on screen). But really, Dane doesn’t mind a sex scene (“I’ve always been comfortable with these types of scenes, that’s my final answer,” he tells me when I ask him why he’s so at ease.) He then adds, “Part of my comfort comes from me being vigilant that my scene partner’s comfortable. Because if that person’s not comfortable, it’s going to create some discomfort for me and the sincerity and the intimacy isn’t going to be there.”
