The Boys’ Chace Crawford ‘almost had a panic attack’ before sex scene with Tilda Swinton-voiced octopus

‘I was in total denial about it,’ said the former ‘Gossip Girl’ star

The Boys star Chace Crawford has revealed he “almost had a panic attack” before shooting a sex scene with an octopus voiced by Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton.

Crawford, 38, shot to fame playing Nate Archibald in Gossip Girl from 2007 to 2012. He has portrayed aquatic superhero The Deep in superhero satire The Boys since 2019.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Crawford recalled the moment he learned that his character not only speaks to sea animals, but that he would also be required to have onscreen sex with an octopus named Ambrosius.

“It’s so funny and brilliant now, but when that came up, I was like, ‘Oh God, how’s this going to work?’” said the Texas-born actor.

Describing the filming process, Crawford explained that he shared his worries with showrunner Eric Kripke: “I was in total denial about it. And then it got 24 hours out from the first day I had to shoot it and I almost had a panic attack.

“I called Kripke – he’s so great. He’s got a million things going on but his door’s always open. So I was worried about the scene. I’m like, ‘How are we gonna do this? What are the angles gonna be? How naked do I have to be?’ He changed one shot for me. And it was great.”

Chace Crawford as The Deep with Ambrosius the octopus, voiced by Tilda Swinton, in ‘The Boys’ (Prime Video)

Asked whether there had been an intimacy coordinator present during the scene, Crawford replied: “We have one on set. But not with the octopus. But they treated it like, ‘quiet everyone, clear out’ – a closed set.

“But yeah, just the act of picking up the octopus and getting a wet octopus in the bed was so funny and weird. And then it doesn’t come out for a year almost, and you’re like, ‘How is this going to be received?’ But everyone loved it. I saw someone at the gym the other day and he was like, ‘I’m actually going to show you this.’ And it was him in a Deep costume with a pink octopus wrapped around him at Comic-Con or something. Everyone loved it, man. I get ragged on a little bit, but it’s good.”

Last month, Kripke told Variety that Swinton’s casting in the role of the octopus Ambrosius came about after the writers’ room decided: “We need the classiest, Oscar-winningest, British actress we can get our hands on.”

“And that’s a really short list. And Dame Judi Dench was unavailable,” Kripke joked.

Crawford told CinemaBlend he was delighted by the casting. “When they said that Tilda Swinton was doing it, I just started crying laughing because she must have a great sense of humor to want to come and play with us in this insane scene and give life to Ambrosius, finally,” he said.

“And it makes the scene so much funnier and real,” he added. “She’s got this real beautiful voice, and it’s just hilarious to me.”

Earlier this week, Crawford’s fellow The Boys star Erin Moriarty silenced internet haters who criticised her appearance.

The actor had previously called out journalist Megyn Kelly for questioning whether she’d had plastic surgery, dubbing her comments “counterproductive to the degree of being ironically misogynistic.”

Sharing a new Instagram post, Moriarty captioned the photo: “Haters will say {literally everything and anything that pops into their head}. So post it & ghost it. (And sleep tight),” before turning off comments.

Crawford posted a red heart in response.