A critic’s appreciation for his ‘Euphoria’ role
Like many TV viewers, I first noticed Eric Dane on “Grey’s Anatomy.” His Dr. Mark Sloan – “McSteamy,” in the show’s parlance – was a cheerful agent of chaos, remixing the show’s existing tie-ins, thanks in large part to Dane’s smoldering charisma, which was wielded to great effect.
Dane, who died on February 19 after a highly publicized diagnosis of ALS, was a magnetic figure. But in the years after his time on “Grey’s” ended (he left the show in 2012), Dane also became a more interesting actor, thanks in large part to one dynamite role. The kids of “Euphoria” get all the attention, but it was Dane’s painful performance as a man fighting all his impulses that provided real baggage for the show’s first two seasons. Without Dane’s performance as Cal Jacobs, a closeted father whose desires have become an all-consuming enemy, neither Jacob Elordi (playing Cal’s son) nor Hunter Schafer (playing a high school student involved in an unhealthy relationship with Cal) would have nearly as much to play for.
But his performance on ‘Euphoria’ is brilliant on its own terms. As Cal, Dane could barely express what he really wanted: What came so easily to the sexually fluid McSteamy at anything-goes Seattle Grace Hospital was suddenly bound and hidden when he had to play chaperone to the teens at Euphoria High. That we who had seen “Grey’s” knew how easily Dane could play friendly, funny and sexy only made the triumph of Dane’s frigidity on “Euphoria” even clearer. Here he was a man so uncomfortable in his own skin that he demanded to provoke that discomfort in others. Both his son and Jules, a trans teen intrigued by his admittedly inappropriate pleas, recoiled from his touch. And why wouldn’t they? Cal – silent yet quick to send out waves of rage – seemed like the kind of man who paled in comparison to his own reflection.
In season 2, before Dane’s health took a turn for the worse, I remember thinking to myself that the mere fact that this performer was taking on this role was pretty daring. Yes, actors have to work, and this was a job at HBO, but there was no guarantee that “Euphoria” would perform like this (he was going to dominate the culture every Sunday night during its run), and, well, he had been McSteamy! Wouldn’t other roles like these, protagonists with a twist, be more appealing? Instead, Dane leaned into a part that got its own standout episode, one in which we saw a flashback to Cal’s past exploring his sexuality with men, before we saw Cal, drunk and despondent in the present tense, berating his family before literally peeing on the floor as he walked toward them.
“Euphoria” gets a lot of attention for being over-the-top, but within its crazy creative universe, the performances must be carefully calibrated to keep the whole thing from collapsing. And Dane did just that; he returns for the upcoming season 3, and I’m confident his performance will be a highlight.
I had assumed it was the Shonda Rhimes training that kept his “Euphoria” performance coherent, but when I interviewed Dane last year, he told me there was something else going on as well: a new willingness to be free and take risks. “I have always had a deep respect for the craft of acting, but I have never considered myself an artist,” he said. “I could never admit it until I started making ‘Euphoria.’ That’s when I gave myself the space to feel like I was an artist.”
And it was art he made: Dane brought to life someone who pushed so hard against walls that he couldn’t get down in his understanding of his sexuality that the effort had to break something. In the same interview, I felt compelled to ask Dane (delicately, to the point of awkwardness) about his life with ALS. The diagnosis had been announced months earlier and Dane was now promoting the Amazon series “Countdown,” in which he played a supporting role, but the news remained up in the air. “I don’t really want to talk about it,” he said. “I made the announcement. That’s what’s going on with me; it’s very personal to me.”
Reasonable. But as I tried to move on from a direct discussion about the private issue of health, I wondered: What work did Dane want to do in the future? “I am ready and willing to do just about anything, but I have limitations that I understand prevent me from playing certain roles,” he said. “I’m working on ‘Euphoria.’ I’ve completed ‘Countdown’. I’m quite capable in that regard.”
The clock is cruel; an actor who will forever live in his youth as a handsome surgeon is way ahead of his time. But the passage of time is also the whole point of his last great performance. Cal Jacobs let his life slip away from him little by little until he suddenly realized it was gone. The warm-hearted, insightful Eric Dane who, even when ill, raved about his younger colleagues in our interview and told me that he had come to the realization that how you behave on a set – and off – is the measure of an artist? I only met him briefly, but I don’t think he made the same mistake.
