Euphoria, the series that blew our minds in recent years, especially for its aesthetics, could be a vile steal. Or so claims Petra Collins, a renowned New York photographer. Let’s go with the good stuff because Collins’ statements in the interview with the medium Punkt.hu are very juicy:
“I’m going to tell you the truth about this series that has never been told. I never talk about it publicly, because it’s crazy, but the reason I moved to Los Angeles was Sam Levinson, who runs the show. He sent a letter to my agency that said “I wrote a show based on your photos, would you direct it?”
Probably every artist’s dream is to have a huge production company come in and say, I trust your vision, I’m going to give you many millions to take it to the next level. And that’s probably what Collins thought would happen:
“So I moved to LA, and I worked 5 months for HBO. I created a whole world for the project, I did the casting and whatever, at the last minute, they tell me ‘We’re not going to hire you because you’re too young.'”
After five months of detailing the aesthetic which, let’s be honest, besides the performances, is the most powerful card in the series, Petra was scrapped, and the project moved on. “And it was like “well, okay, thank you very much.” They didn’t take my version of the series – I was so innocent – they just made another show.”
According to her, they protected themselves so that this could only transcend on an ethical level (what do fans of the series think of all the gossip?), and not on a legal level, because of course – she says – they didn’t use the script she had put together, but another version of the series, but it kept that foundational element: the Petra aesthetic.
Petra Collins, an Influence on Fashion
For those who don’t know Collins, let us tell you in broad strokes: for about 9 or 10 years she has been, or pretends to be, the spearhead in fashion aesthetics, especially working juxtaposing the concepts of the feminine with the sinister, all this supported by a splendid taste for costumes and lighting. She has done campaigns for several well-known brands such as Gucci or Bimba and Lola.
You’ve probably heard of her work in collaboration with Selena Gomez herself.
Or what he has been doing for her new muse, Olivia Rodrigo.
There is something true in that the aesthetics of girls illuminated by neon light and full of glitter became public domain and are not exactly avant-garde anymore. But it would be worth reminding Petra that this was not entirely her creation either, even if we talk about plagiarism (or different influences), we could say that Euphoria also retakes a lot of the narrative structure of other very famous series such as Skins, of course, taken to the next level in every way. It’s worth saying that Collins’ touch is very noticeable in the casting, as she has been working with body-positive and diversity themes for a long time.
It is believable that this is the cruel modus operandis of the American film industry, which used and discarded Collins to get the project off the ground, even though they knew it would be as successful as Collins herself, or Olivia Rodrigo, Tavi Gevinson and the whole gang of NYC fashion icons. The worldwide success of a series like Euphoria could only mean one thing to Collins: that her aesthetic and concept would be worn out, squeezed out.
“It was very intense for me because this is the aesthetic I built my whole life, and now I have to change it because now it’s going into the mainstream, and it’s been taken away from me. The worst thing was when people, without knowing it, were telling me ‘This show looks like your photos.'”
For their part, neither HBO nor Levinson have said anything about it.
This story was written in Spanish by Carmen Guerrero in Cultura Colectiva
