Anyone But You: Sydney Sweeney Feared For Her Life After Painful On-Set Incident
Sydney Sweeney has been in some seriously wild projects — but on the set of her new film "Anyone But You," she ended up in a situation that actually might have endangered her life.
During an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," the rising star told the late-night host that she was bitten by a spider during a scene shot on location in Australia for the new romantic comedy — and she brought receipts. The exclusive video she brought in from the movie shows her shrieking that the spider is biting her, but at first, it seems like it might just be a part of the scene — until Sweeney screams, "He's biting me, he's biting me. No, he's really biting me!" Sweeney's co-star and friend Glen Powell then tries to help her in the clip and makes sure she's okay. "It got you? It actually got you?" he asks, checking on her.
"That was, like, a soul scream," Sweeney told Fallon, though he characterized it as a "primal scream" elsewhere during the interview. "I thought I was gonna die," the actress continued. "Well, I was like, 'It's poisonous. I'm gonna die.'" Fallon, for his part, made a joke about Sweeney's sheer commitment to the craft: "Who else bleeds for their romantic comedies?"
This spider incident accidentally refers to Sydney Sweeney's upcoming role
Perhaps the funniest part of this whole ordeal — considering that the spider clearly wasn't poisonous and that Sydney Sweeney lived to tell the tale — is that she was specifically bitten by a spider. See, the actress' next high-profile project is the Sony film "Madame Web," in which Dakota Johnson stars as Cassandra Webb, a medical worker who turns into a psychic superhero. Sweeney co-stars as Julia Carpenter in the movie, who later does become Spider-Woman — a fact that the crew of "Anyone But You" unknowingly guessed correctly while making a joke.
During the "Tonight Show" interview, Jimmy Fallon produced a real report from the romantic comedy's on-set medic, which simply read, "First aid — Sydney Sweeney (Cast Department) bitten by spider, now Spider-Woman." This would be hilarious enough if they even knew she'd been cast in "Madame Web," but according to Sweeney, that information wasn't even public yet. "At that time, they had no idea about 'Madame Web,'" Sweeney revealed. "They had no idea. So I saw that and I said, 'Oooooh!'"
Where have you seen Sydney Sweeney before?
Sydney Sweeney's star has been on the rise lately — so for many reasons, it's lucky that her career wasn't cut short by either a radioactive or poisonous spider. The young actress, who hails from Spokane, Washington, has been working in film and TV since 2009. But her big break came on Sam Levinson's risqué HBO series "Euphoria" as Cassie Howard, a troubled young woman who seeks attention from men to avoid her rampant insecurities. (Sweeney has appeared on the series since its inception, but a Season 2 storyline involving Jacob Elordi's brooding bad boy Nate Jacobs gave her much more material to work with.)
The actress actually works with HBO pretty frequently. Before her breakout part on "Euphoria," she appeared in the premium network's drama "Sharp Objects," where she played a small yet pivotal role alongside Amy Adams. Not only does she also appear in Season 1 of Mike White's anthology series "The White Lotus" as spoiled teen Olivia Mossbacher, but she also led the network's original film "Reality," where she played real-life intelligence leaker Reality Winner as she undergoes a lengthy interrogation. "Anyone But You," Sweeney's latest, hits theaters on December 22, 2023.