Yesterday we bought information that the Weeknd is starring in a brand new film with some hip and influential collaborators. Today comes a report suggesting his extra imminent display screen venture is a multitude. Abel Tesfaye is starring as a nightclub proprietor and cult chief alongside troubled pop star Lily-Rose Depp in HBO’s The Idol, a present Tesfaye developed with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, which additionally options music figures comparable to Jennie from Blackpink, Troye Sivan, Mike Dean, and Moses Sumney. It sounds just like the present has gone off the rails and into some extraordinarily darkish locations.
HBO has promoted Levinson and Tesfaye because the “sick and twisted minds” behind the “sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood.” According to a brand new Rolling Stone function, a string of radical revisions have pushed the story’s salacious qualities to the intense. One of the 13 solid and crew members interviewed for the article describes the present model of The Idol, which supposedly surpasses even Euphoria when it comes to graphic and disturbing sexual content material, as “torture porn.”
Last yr director Amy Seimetz, of The Girlfriend Experience and She Dies Tomorrow, departed The Idol with roughly 80% of its six-episode collection completed, at which level Levinson took over as showrunner, scrapped the entire thing, and began over. Sources recommend Seimetz was set as much as fail, with tight deadlines, restricted budgets, and unfinished scripts hindering what had been a “gripping” story. Multiple sources recommend Tesfaye’s dissatisfaction with the storyline was the rationale for the shakeup. He reportedly was displeased with the story’s deal with Depp’s character and wished to downplay the cult points of the collection, which led to abandoning the story’s “feminist lens.” Per one supply, “It was like the Weeknd wanted one show that was all about him — Sam was on board with that.” However, Tesfaye’s busy schedule as a musical artist made it tough for the present to deal with him.
The revamped storyline reportedly subs out a lot of the music trade satire of the unique present in favor of a love story a number of sources describe as degrading. One scene that was by no means shot reportedly concerned Tesfaye’s character bashing Depp’s character within the face, to which she smiled and requested for extra, giving Tesfaye’s character an erection. Another discarded scene from the rewrites was to incorporate Depp’s character begging Tesfaye’s character to “rape” her. Sources have been unclear which scenes would really be included within the last model of the present resulting from fixed revisions and reshoots.
“What I signed up for was a dark satire of fame and the fame model in the 21st century,” one manufacturing member advised RS. “The things that we subject our talent and stars to, the forces that put people in the spotlight and how that can be manipulated in the post-Trump world… It went from satire to the thing it was satirizing.” Another supply says the brand new plot “was 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.” Another damning quote: “It was a show about a woman who was finding herself sexually, turned into a show about a man who gets to abuse this woman and she loves it.”
UPDATE: A special set of nameless sources tells TMZ that nobody who talked to Rolling Stone has seen the ultimate model of the present. According to TMZ’s report, Levinson was introduced on to “right the ship” and most concerned with the present imagine he has — together with Tesfaye, who reportedly is feeling “optimistic and grateful” about The Idol.
Additionally, a consultant from HBO and Lily-Rose Depp have supplied statements to Stereogum. Here is HBO’s assertion:
The creators and producers of The Idol have been working arduous to create considered one of HBO’s most enjoyable and provocative authentic packages. The preliminary strategy on the present and manufacturing of the early episodes, sadly, didn’t meet HBO requirements so we selected to make a change. Throughout the method, the inventive staff has been dedicated to making a protected, collaborative, and mutually respectful working setting, and final yr, the staff made inventive adjustments they felt have been in the most effective curiosity of each the manufacturing and the solid and crew. We stay up for sharing The Idol with audiences quickly.
Lily-Rose Depp shared this relating to Sam Levinson:
Sam is, for therefore many causes, the most effective director I’ve ever labored with. Never have I felt extra supported or revered in a inventive area, my enter and opinions extra valued. Working with Sam is a real collaboration in each means – it issues to him, greater than something, not solely what his actors take into consideration the work, however how we really feel performing it. He hires individuals whose work he esteems and has at all times created an setting through which I felt seen, heard, and appreciated.
Meanwhile Tesfaye has responded by posting a scene from The Idol to his Weeknd Instagram account with the caption, “@rollingstone did we upset you?” The clip options Tesfaye and Depp (each in character) debating with Dan Levy (showing to play a publicist or supervisor) over the deserves of a Rolling Stone cowl story. “I think it’s worth pursuing,” Levy’s character says. “Rolling Stone? Aren’t they a little… irrelevant?” Tesfaye asks. “Yeah I feel like it might be kind of past its prime,” Depp nods alongside.
Watch that clip beneath.
If you or somebody you already know is present process sexual abuse, please go to rainn.org or contact the National Sexual Assault Helpline at 1-800-656-4673.