Bravo tells PEOPLE he found it “hard not to question how far you can go” in the scene with Kruger

Warning: This post contains spoilers for episode 5 of The Seduction.

Lucas Bravo had some questions ahead of filming one of the more intense scenes he shares with Diane Kruger in The Seduction.

Bravo plays the villainous Comte de Gercourt in the French HBO series, a new take on Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, while Kruger plays seductress Madame de Rosemonde, who has her sights set on dismantling Gercourt’s life and power.

In episode five of the series, which premiered Friday, Dec. 12 on HBO Max, Gercourt overpowers and assaults Rosemonde in an intense exchange, which scares her straight after months of scheming with the Marquise de Merteuil (Anamaria Vartolomei) and her nephew, Sebastian Valmont (Vincent Lacoste), to ruin his life.

Bravo, 37, says he found it “hard not to question how far you can go” in a scene like that. “I like to go all in, and I had a lot of fun playing that character, but also, sometimes, as you arrive on a project and it’s one of your first days, it’s hard not to question how far you can go,” he tells PEOPLE.

“What’s funny for me is that, we were on the make-up chair and we were bonding with Diane, and we were talking about family and very cute things, and then I spent the evenings strangling her on the fireplace,” the Emily in Paris star shares.

He adds, “And the contrast between those two aspects — it was hard for me to completely let go.”

The actor credits the show’s intimacy coordinators who were on set and made sure “we don’t have surprises on the day,” but also thanks Kruger, 49, for calming his nerves. “Diane gave me permission, she came to me and she said, ‘Go all in, and I’m prepared,’ ” he says, telling his costar: “I really appreciate that you gave me such permission.”

“It gave me a sense of, ‘This is what we see for this show and this is how far we want it to go,’ ” he continues.

For Kruger, making sure that intense exchange was done exactly right was of the utmost importance. “It was very important to me, and I had very long conversations with [director] Jessica [Palud] about it being as violent and as graphic as it could be,” she tells PEOPLE.

She explains, “Because I think the story we’re trying to tell is exactly that. Women were literally and figuratively raped, physically and psychologically, by the men, by a society that was made by men, for men.”

The moment with Gercourt is “really the crumbling point of where my character realizes — I give up. I literally do not [want to] push any harder,” Kruger says. As a result, the assault makes Rosemonde so scared of Gercourt and society as a whole that she becomes “paralyzed.”

Rosemonde’s “fear [of] men or [of] this society that I live in has now paralyzed [her],” the actress says. “And I need to try to protect this younger girl that I’m hoping will go further, but I’m caught up, I cannot push any further.”

Those sentiments “rang so true,” Kruger continues. “And that moment really embodies that.”

Of filming the scene, she adds, “Obviously, it’s not fun to do, and [Bravo is] like the nicest guy ever, but in a way, I wanted to feel it.”

New episodes of The Seduction premiere Fridays on HBO Max until the finale on Dec. 19.