The Week replied a new one Rolling Stone report about his upcoming HBO series The Idol, what are the details of the co-creator (and Euphoria head) Sam Levinson suddenly took creative control and completely derailed the message of the series and hyper-sexualized its characters. Instead of listening to the feedback, however, the artist tweeted to the publication a video from the series itself, in which his character calls Rolling Stone “Irrelevant.”
“Are you mad at us?” The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) tweeted, as the publication cooked up the report in response to the criticism of the character. In fact, the piece paints Tesfaye and Levinson as uncooperative creators and poor leads at best, and shadowy, predatory figures at worst.
The Idol stars Lily-Rose Depp as Jocelyn, a rising pop star who falls into a complicated relationship with Tedros (Tesfaye), the owner of an LA nightclub who doubles as a cult leader . According to Rolling Stone’Sources, the show is intended to be a satire of the industry and follow Depp’s character as he gains his freedom in a world dependent on abuse. Amy Seimetz (The Boyfriend) was on board as director, but last year he abruptly exited the project, when 80 percent of the six-episode season was reportedly complete.
After Seimetz’s exit, Levinson assumed creative control, reportedly using his star power as the creator of Euphoria to completely rewrite and reshoot the series. Tesfaye is said to have felt it The Idol Taking too much of the “female perspective,” Levinson then overhauled the story by focusing on his love story with Jocelyn – by increasing the number of scandalous sex scenes in the series and reducing the Jocelyn’s arc towards independence.
Even before Levinson took over, the crew remembers a chaotic set. The scripts were not finished while Seimetz directed, and Seimetz himself worked on writing the season finale during shooting. Sources described several changes to the script and recalled hearing at the last minute that stories were being changed and deleted. However, Levinson spent millions of dollars (the exact amount is unknown) reshooting the series, changing it from a feminist tale to what one crew member described as “sexual torture porn .”
“What I signed up for is a dark satire of fame and the model of fame in the 21st century,” said a member of the production. “The things we subject our talent and stars to, the forces that put people in the spotlight and how that’s going to be manipulated in the post-Trump world.” Instead, “It goes from satire to the thing it’s satirizing.”
Don’t know when The Idol will finally premiere, and what exactly the show will look like when it does. Crew members described disturbing scenes in various scripts that were never shot, and said scenes were reshot so many times that any combination of takes could appear in the official performance. After ordering the series in November 2021, HBO hopes The Idol will premiere in 2022, but now the program is only being teased as dropping “later this year.”
read Rolling Stone’s full report on the riot The Idol setc HEREand see The Weeknd’s response to the story below.
.@RollingStone are you angry with us? pic.twitter.com/Uyx06lyRgx
– The Weeknd (@theweeknd) March 1, 2023