Costa D’Angelo Talks Filming His First Sex Scenes Ever On Tell Me Lies
“It was scary at first. I was in my head about all these things.”
When Costa D’Angelo joined Tell Me Lies in Season 3, he had to learn to get comfortable with the uncomfortable really quickly. His character, Alex, has several sexual encounters with Lucy, each one darker and more complicated than the last. Although D’Angelo has been acting for over a decade and has some buzzy Netflix projects on the horizon, this was his first experience doing intimacy shoots. “It was my first time ever filming anything like that. I’d never even done a shirtless scene before,” the 25-year-old Australian actor says.
At first, D’Angelo was nervous about these steamy moments, but he came to view them as “more of a dance than anything.” “It was scary at first,” he says. “I was in my head about all these things. But everything’s choreographed. I tried to look at it as a movement piece.”
It helped that his scene partner, Grace Van Patten, is a pro at filming intimacy scenes after two prior seasons full of them. “I had complete trust and faith in Grace,” D’Angelo says. “She looked after me, because she knew I was nervous. That speaks to what an incredible leader she is.”
Alex’s most pivotal sex scene actually isn’t one of the bedroom encounters that might come to mind at first. D’Angelo points out that it’s Alex and Lucy’s impromptu hookup in his car in Episode 4 that unlocks something in the mysterious, loner character. “When she says sorry to him for bumping into the headrest or whatever, that’s such a big moment for Alex,” D’Angelo says. Right before the hookup, Alex had forced Lucy to publicly apologize to her ex in a bar.
No one’s ever said sorry to Alex.
“No one’s ever said sorry to Alex. He’s never felt that,” D’Angelo says. “So when he said, ‘Say that again,’ and it turns him on, that’s the moment that things start to break down inside of him.”
Because Alex and Lucy’s dynamic is fraught with sexual tension and emotional toxicity, D’Angelo and Van Patten had to find a way to shake things off after filming. The solution? Cookies. “I was dieting and going to the gym a lot because I was so nervous about my shirtless scenes, and then after one of those shoots, Grace and I got Crumbl cookies,” D’Angelo says. “We bought a ton of desserts, and just played music and chilled.”
Below, D’Angelo shares the playlist he used to get into character as Alex and why he’s spending this year channeling Timothée Chalamet.
Elite Daily: What TV show are you obsessed with right now?
Costa D’Angelo: I’m watching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms right now, the new Game of Thrones spinoff. That’s a lot of fun. I just finished Andor; I know I was late to the party. I watched that while I was shooting Tell Me Lies, and it was the most incredible experience. I love Star Wars.
ED: What movie have you rewatched the most in your life?
CD: Revenge of the Sith. Anakin Skywalker was my hero growing up, so I would watch that all the time.
ED: What song topped your Spotify Wrapped last year?
CD: “Nutshell” by Alice in Chains. I was shooting last year, so all my music was Alex music, and that was a big Alex song for me. I actually published my Alex playlist on Spotify for people to see, because everyone was asking about it. It’s got a thousand saves now, which is so crazy.
ED: Who is the most active in the Tell Me Lies group chat?
CD: Not me, that’s for sure.
ED: What’s your go-to karaoke song?
CD: Something by The Veronicas, or “Land Down Under.” It depends where I am in the world. If I want everyone to know I’m Australian, it’s “Land Down Under.”
ED: Who’s an actor you dream of working with one day?
CD: Hugh Jackman. Obviously because he’s Australian, but I also want to tell him that I worked with the same acting coach he did. Her name was Elizabeth Kemp, and she passed away, so I want to tell him I got to work with her and how brilliant and incredible she was.
ED: What do you miss most about Australia when you’re away filming?
CD: My family, the sun, the beaches. I’m in Vancouver at the moment and it’s very rainy. So I miss going to the beach, going for a swim, going for a run, playing footy.
ED: If you weren’t an actor, what job would you have?
CD: I would definitely be a gardener. I had a few gardening jobs back in the day that held me over until acting took off. So I’d probably just go back to that.
ED: You started acting at 12 years old. What advice would you give your younger self about this career?
CD: Have more fun, enjoy it a bit more. I approached it with such a mindset of “I have to work the hardest and be the most serious,” and there’s room for that, but I wish I had more fun throughout the journey. Enjoy the moments of failure. Embrace them. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
ED: What are you manifesting for 2026?
CD: I’m working on a Netflix series for the next few months, and I’m manifesting just being able to explore this story with this incredible team. I’m really taking inspiration from actors I look up to, like Timothée Chalamet, who just immerse themselves into their characters. I want to spend these four months where this is all I think about, just this job, and this role, and these characters, and this story.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
