As they say in Hollywood, any publicity is good publicity, and The Idol is about to put that old adage to the test. HBO’s new show starring Lily-Rose Depp and the Weeknd premieres on Sunday, so people will finally see for themselves if it’s really as scandalous as reports suggest.
The show follows Depp’s character Jocelyn, a sexy pop star trying to reclaim her crown after a nervous breakdown. As she tries to make a comeback, Jocelyn gets mixed up with nightclub owner Tedros (played by Abel “the Weeknd” Tesfaye), who runs a NXIVM-type cult. “Will her romantic awakening take her to glorious new heights or the deepest and darkest depths of her soul?” the logline reads.
Here’s why The Idol’s stirred controversy over the past several months.
Director Amy Seimetz exits the series
In April 2022, it was revealed that The Idol was undergoing a major creative overhaul. Seimetz, who nearly completed the whole project, departed as did rising actress Suzanna Son. According to Deadline, “the crux of the issue” was that Tesfaye — who co-created the series with Euphoria’s Sam Levinson — felt the show was leaning too much into a “female perspective.” (He later denied this in interviews.)
The Idol labeled “torture porn” in Rolling Stone exposé
Thirteen members of the cast and crew anonymously spoke to the outlet and claimed the show had “gone wildly, disgustingly off the rails.” Levinson essentially scrapped the entire first version of the show which caused expensive and grueling delays as he purportedly rewrote the series, according to the March report. Alleged on-set turmoil coincided with a shift in tone as the series was depicted as “sexual torture porn.”
“It was, let’s just say, a s***show,” one person claimed.
Seimetz’s version was more “about a troubled starlet falling victim to a predatory industry figure and fighting to reclaim her own agency.” But The Idol 2.0, according to one production member, became “like any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show — and then the woman comes back for more because it makes her music better.”
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Depp and HBO issued statements defending the show and Levinson.
“Sam is, for so many reasons, the best director I have ever worked with. Never have I felt more supported or respected in a creative space, my input and opinions more valued,” Depp told Yahoo in a statement. “Working with Sam is a true collaboration in every way — it matters to him, more than anything, not only what his actors think about the work, but how we feel performing it. He hires people whose work he esteems and has always created an environment in which I felt seen, heard, and appreciated.”
The network added to Yahoo, “The creators and producers of The Idol have been working hard to create one of HBO’s most exciting and provocative original programs. The initial approach on the show and production of the early episodes, unfortunately, did not meet HBO standards so we chose to make a change. Throughout the process, the creative team has been committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment, and last year, the team made creative changes they felt were in the best interest of both the production and the cast and crew. We look forward to sharing The Idol with audiences soon.”
Rolling Stone stood by its report.
Tesfaye sacrificed his “health and home” to reshoot the show and called the Rolling Stone article “ridiculous”
In order to get some of the reshoot costs down, the superstar allowed the show to be filmed at his mega mansion in Bel Air, Calif. Levinson even moved his family into Tesfaye’s home as he reworked scripts.
“Film and TV is a new creative muscle for me,” Tesfaye told W. “I don’t release my music until I think it is great. Why would this be any different? … I realized that I need to know that I’ve made the best version of whatever I’m making. It was a challenge to redo The Idol, and, in truth, I sacrificed my health and home to make it work. So, let’s say it comes out and it’s f***ing horrible. I still know I did my absolute best. From what I’ve seen, the show is great. Everything is a risk: When you’ve done the best you can, I would call that a happy ending.”
In a separate interview with Vanity Fair, Tesfaye called the Rolling Stone exposé “ridiculous.” He was offended by what he considered the subtext of the report to be — “These are rapists trying to make a rape fantasy” — and found it an attack on his character. Tesfaye said he considered Depp to be the show’s third creator and dismissed the rumor that he thought the show revolved too much around her character. (“I know it’s easy for people to be like, ‘Oh, he wanted to be the star.”)
Depp added to Vanity Fair, “I think it’s interesting that people have so much to say about the show already and they haven’t even seen it.”
Tesfaye said scheduling conflicts prevented Seimetz from working on reshoots. “I actually really loved working with Amy,” the musician explained, “and I’m sure she’s reading all this being like, ‘Why am I being thrown into this?'” (She has not publicly commented amid the drama.)
The Idol finally premieres in Cannes — and is panned
Early reviews for the show are not positive. “The Idol Is More Toxic and Way Worse Than You’ve Heard,” read Rolling Stone’s headline. Variety said the show “plays like a sordid male fantasy.” Time said the series “pretends to expose exploitation while reveling in it.” The Wrap called it “luxury sleaze.”
Depp’s nudity is a hot-button topic, too
Although the actress was widely praised for her acting, many articles out of Cannes revolved around her “gratuitous” nudity. It’s a criticism Levinson has faced on Euphoria, too. Johnny Depp’s daughter defended the “bareness” of her character.
“I think that something about Jocelyn is just that she’s a born and bred performer,” she said at a Cannes Film Festival press conference, according to People. “I think that extends to every aspect of her life, not just her professional life. I think that the way that she dresses, for example, is her trying to tell you something all the time or say something to the people that she’s around or express herself in some kind of way.”
The 24-year-old added, “And I also think that the occasional bareness of the character physically mirrors the bareness that we get to see emotionally in her.”
The Idol actress defends Depp’s onscreen nudity
During an interview with Yahoo, Jane Adams hit back at the criticism coming out of Cannes.
“With Lily-Rose, like why would nudity be a bad thing? What are people talking about? I don’t understand,” she explained. “I don’t even believe that mindset is real. That whole mindset seems fake to me, this outrage and pearl clutching that’s going on about a nude actress who’s beautiful. When did that become outrageous?”
Adams called Depp “one of the best actresses I’ve ever worked with” and defended Levinson.
“It’s thrilling working with Sam because you just don’t know what to expect in the best sense. It’s not boring. It’s not safe… it is the opposite of snoozy,” she declared. “For someone like me that likes kind of like an adrenaline rush, there’s plenty of those to be had.”
The veteran actress added: “I don’t know what is going on in society today, but there’s all these people pretending they don’t have a dark side. I find that more frightening than anything in The Idol. This whole pretending that everybody is Goody Two-shoes is terrifying.”
The Idol premieres Sunday, June 4 at 9 p.m. on HBO. It will also be available to stream on Max.
