Sydney Chandler is sharing her thoughts on the happenings that went down with Variety last month.
If you don’t know, she was supposed to appear on the magazine’s cover with her Alien: Earth co-star Timothy Olyphant, as well as the creator of the show, Noah Hawley. However, she did not end up appearing.
In Variety‘s own words, here’s what supposedly happened, in their eyes: “One day before the shoot, though she had agreed to be photographed, Chandler made it known (through reps) that she wasn’t willing to participate in the kind of video interview that is the standard ask at Variety — as at other publications. Prolonged negotiations continued until the morning of the shoot.”
They continued: “At first, one of Chandler’s reps voiced the actor’s concern about playing a game with ‘two older men’ (in other words, her co-star and showrunner, who are, respectively, 57 and 58). The game, the comic test ‘How Well Do They Know Each Other?,’ seemed innocuous to us — everyone from Ariana Grande to Ryan Reynolds to Daniel Craig has done it in the past.”
Variety noted they sent her a list of sample questions, and she apparently sent a list of ones she did not want asked. The site continued, “We don’t ever offer question approval, and there’s good reason why: ‘How many ‘Alien’ films are there?’ was high on Chandler’s list.”
The site shared that she ended up saying no again, then yes the morning of the shoot, and then she didn’t end up participating. Variety even included the text her publicist apparently sent, which read: “No. She is not coming. Spoke to her just now. Her stylist and glam are not responding. She’s also very sick.”
Now, in her own words, Sydney is explaining her side of what happened.
Keep reading to find out more…
Sydney, who is the daughter of Friday Night Lights‘ Kyle Chandler, told EW, “It was really unfortunate. I really wanted to be there for the photo shoot, and I was ready to talk anything and everything Alien. I did not know at the time it was a dealbreaker, to [not] do a game and personal question thing. Again, new to this; I haven’t done something like that before. I felt uncomfortable doing something like that. Unfortunately, I was uninvited from the rest of the shoot. I never meant to offend.”
“It’s such a nebulous industry to try and explain to people who aren’t on the ground in it,” she added.
“I’m figuring this world out. I’m figuring out how much of my personal self I need to give, I want to give, I feel comfortable giving. It’s a really personal journey. So I’m learning a heck of a lot on this press tour. Once this is completed, I’ll have a bit of a foundation and be able to go from there,” she added.
Variety also told EW in a statement: “Variety invited Sydney on our cover to celebrate her performance in Alien: Earth. We were clear from the start that our offer included video, and we continued to negotiate with her team through the morning of the shoot to see if she would participate.”
Alien: Earth premieres today on Hulu and FX.