Juno Temple on filming Dot and Roy's 'terrifying' “Fargo” fight scene

“I thought that was absolutely terrifying just when I read it,” the actress tells EW.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Fargo season 5, episode 8, "Blanket."

Juno Temple made sure that proper considerations were taken to protect everyone on set before shooting that "terrifying" fight scene in the newest episode of Fargo.

The actress, who stars as Dot Lyon, tells EW that the brutal brawl — which sees Roy (Jon Hamm) try to beat Dot with a chain that’s tied to her ankle while shouting Bible scripture — was “scary” even before the cameras ever started rolling. “I thought that was absolutely terrifying just when I read it,” she says. “With the Bible, reading scripture, and with the shackles, and that. I was just like, ‘Wow.’”

So, when it came time to film their confrontation, Temple had conversations with series writer and creator Noah Hawley, episode director Sylvain White, and producers about making sure that it was shot on a closed set. “Not everybody needs to watch it,” she explains. “And, because people who I was working closely with have talked about experiences that they'd been through, it ended up being unbelievably respectfully done.”

After their shocking reunion last week, Roy imprisons Dot in a ramshackle cabin on his property. When an election debate goes awry, he takes his fury out on her in a crazed attack that only ends when one of Roy’s lackeys interrupts to reveal that Lyon family lawyer Danish Graves (Dave Foley) has arrived to speak with him.

“I was aware of Noah [Hawley] saying, 'I'm not sure how much we'll actually show in the final cut, because it's really hard to watch,’” Temple says. (A portion of the fight is not visually depicted onscreen and can only be heard.) She recalls being “really affected” by the scene after watching her stunt double Louise Hradsky, who wore protective gear underneath her wig, perform a pass of the sequence and “having this realization that, normally, women don't get a crash helmet.”

Still, Temple believes that the clash was “imperative, because you really see what Dot got away from and why she left Nadine there" all those years ago. “It really shows how violent and how frightening Roy can be towards women,” she continues, noting that domestic violence is "an important subject to talk about, and something that women go through more often than anybody thinks about."

The sequence also highlights “how brave Dot is,” Temple says. “I love that she keeps fighting. She doesn't stop… And I think that's something that I found very inspirational. Throughout the scene too, she just keeps on fighting, which is also what makes Roy madder and madder.”

In addition to shutting down the set, a therapist was made available to both cast and crew and Temple had a “lovely little tent” filled with flowers, fairy lights, and other items that she encouraged everyone to visit. “I was like, 'Anyone that needs a breather. I've got an open-door tent,'” she says. “I think — on any day on a set, actually, but on a day like that — making it extra clear that you are open arms and open-hearted is essential… Otherwise, if you feel unsafe, you're not gonna go there. And if you're not going to go there, what's the point in even trying to tell a story like that?”

Temple adds that Hamm was “incredibly respectful” and even requested that Hradsky undertake some of the scene’s scarier moments so that she wouldn’t get hurt. “I'm not a stunt person. I'm also very dyslexic; I could very well roll in the wrong direction,” she explains. “And so he was very, very protective of not having me do things that he felt were unsafe.”

She also looked out for him and the rest of the cast and crew where she could. “I was very aware that, for John, it's also a hard task to be playing the monster,” Temple acknowledges. “So you've got to be aware of everybody in that situation and be respectful and allow people space when they need it, but also be there if somebody wants to ask you something or, just every once in a while, check in.”

The episode’s conclusion, which sees a group of men shove Graves’ dead body into a concealed pit on the property, also serves as a difficult wake-up call for Dot moving forward. “I think that realization there is ugly, but it's also important,” Temple shares. “It is the moment where she realizes that if she doesn't really, really fight with everything she's f---ing got, that she won't make it out. And that's not an option.”

Fargo airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX and streams the next day on Hulu.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.