Angus Cloud Represented the Promise of ‘Euphoria’
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When “Euphoria” was building an audience, the scene that became its calling card was one from the third episode of the HBO drama, where teen addict Rue (Zendaya) desperately bangs on the door of Fezco (Angus Cloud), who viewers quickly understand to be both one of her oldest friends and the drug dealer that provided her painkiller fix.
As Fez refuses to allow her into his home, saying “I’m not going to help you kill yourself, Rue,” Zendaya proves why she won the Emmy, skillfully cycling through the anger, bargaining, and hopelessness that comes with having to feed a drug addiction at such a young age. But Cloud just as well proves in his first ever dramatic scene that he has a lived-in quality that seems to only come to an actor naturally. Though he maybe says 10 words within the two-and-a-half minute clip, his bright blue eyes, which one could only describe as soulful, convey the conflict within his character, feeling dejected by the unintended, yet predictable consequence of his actions.
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Though Cloud — who died Monday at age 25 — was initially just a kid one of the show’s casting director’s spotted on the streets of New York, and had not had any formal acting training before his debut in “Euphoria,” it was clear to the audience early on that the star had no intention of squandering the rare opportunity he’d been offered. Many of the times “Euphoria” was at its best was when it put the spotlight on its most amateur actors, like Cloud and Hunter Schafer, playing characters like Fez and Jules, respectively, who came so fully formed they blurred the lines between fiction and reality.
But Cloud rejected the idea that he and Fezco were one in the same. “A lot of people say, ‘Oh, it must be so easy. You get to play yourself on TV,'” he said to EW in an interview about the Season 2 premiere, which showed his character’s origin story, complete with an explanation for how Fez got the scar that ran along Cloud’s scalp. “I’m like ‘Yeah, I guess, but you try to get up in front of a 30-40 person team, a hundred extras and two huge, million dollar cameras and act natural.’ It’s not as easy as it sounds.”
As his character brooded on screen in the long-waited second season of the show, Cloud had a much more playful persona offscreen, live-tweeting throughout with canny jokes and winks to those fanning the flames of a romance between Fez and good girl Lexi (Maude Apatow). The interviews he did would often go viral, as he managed to be a unique mix of uninhibited and guarded. He joked that he would not reveal his birthday so that fans would not be able to judge him by his Zodiac sign.
“Euphoria” is the rare teen drama that fulfills the promise of introducing the world to a new generation of stars. The group of actors are already leading major movies, becoming ambassadors for high fashion brands like Miu Miu, Hugo Boss, and Balenciaga, and garnering awards buzz for different opportunities—and Cloud was right there with them. Last year, he was made the face of Polo Ralph Lauren, and has already shot films with the directors of “Captain Marvel” and “Scream VI.”
No one knows what heights his career could have reached, had the 25-year-old actor’s life not come to such a tragic ending. Fans of the show can remember already mourning his character up until the Season 2 finale, as it was suggested Fez may not make it out of the episode alive. For however polarizing “Euphoria” may be, Cloud was a shining example of the show’s capability to find moments of such heartrending honesty. Though the show is likely to continue without him, he and his character have made an indelible impact, helping depict a far too common addiction story so few us see represented.
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