On June 4, The Idol arrives on HBO and HBO Max, the series by Sam Levinson (creator of Euphoria) starring Lily-Rose Depp and Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd). Its first episodes premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and gave a lot to talk about. We tell you more here!
After the success he had with Euphoria, Sam Levinson bets again for a series of a similar style … although it seems that raised to the umpteenth power, according to some reactions. We talk about The Idol, program of HBO which premiered its first two episodes at the Cannes Film Festival and which received strong criticism.
This controversial series was co-created by Levinson, Reza Fahim and the singer Abel Tesfayeknown as The Weeknd, who also stars alongside Lily-Rose Depp. What is it about? the idol follow Jocelyn (Depp), a super ambitious character who recently hit the big time in show business. However, after a nervous breakdown derails her latest tour, she is determined to reclaim her rightful status as America’s biggest and sexiest pop star.
After knowing the story and seeing some trailers of The Idol, many people marked certain similarities between the main character and Britney Spearssomething he talked about Levinson in Cannes. “We’re not trying to tell a story about any particular pop star,” said at a conference and added: “It’s a lot of pressure. Having to be constantly on the go and be what everyone wants you to be. It’s a lonely life.”
“I think fame really corrupts, it’s very easy to surround yourself with myth makers who continue to support us“, said Levinson. About this, lily rose depp added: “I think something we wanted to do is make her feel simultaneously like a pop star of our time, but that she’s on her own plane.”
Now why do we say that the idol Is it a controversial series if it didn’t even premiere? Set against the backdrop of the music industry, the series centers on a self-help guru and modern cult leader, Tedros (Tesfaye)who develops a rather complicated relationship with Jocelyna rising pop idol.
tedros He is a nightclub businessman and ‘music manager’ with a dirty past, which is suspected and found out (at least in part) by the team and the manager of Jocelyn. But the controversial thing about the series is not only about the angle that the story takes and its tone, but about something that comes from its development and filming.
During the filming of the idolback in 2021, the series suffered the abandonment of its former director, Amy Seimetz, who apparently decided to leave the production due to creative differences. In theory, the story was initially going to have a feminine and feminist vision with the direction of seimetz, who was also listed as executive producer. However, it seems that the series did not have much of a feminist and that is why it would have left.
After her, several members of the cast disassociated themselves from the project. As these departures worried the production, the series basically had to start from scratch and, according to what had been leaked, completely changed the approach, making the character of Jocelyn something totally different from the initial proposal and ending up as a sexual object. This is in line with the opinions of some of those who worked on the series that were leaked and who defined it as a “pornographic sexual torture”.
Added to all this, Deadline commented that, according to a Rolling Stone article, the production went off the rails with a poor work environment, last-minute script changes, and budget issues, including Levinson’s scrapping of a near-finished $54 million project at $75 Millions to reshoot everything.
Regarding all this, HBO and the rest of the team issued a statement in March saying: “Unfortunately, the initial focus of the show and the production of the first few episodes did not meet the standards of HBOSo we decided to make a change. Throughout the process, the creative team was committed to creating a work environment that is safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful, and last year, the team made creative changes that they felt were in the best interest of the production, cast, and crew. ”.
This week in Cannes, Levinson said that, when he saw all the news about all the controversy on the set of the idolHe knew he had a hit on his hands. However, after the first few episodes were shown, the critics would not agree so much with the co-creator. Here we leave you some tweets with the reactions of different critics:
TO Depp and Tesfaye join the cast Troye Sivan, Hari Nef, Debby Ryan, Steve Zissis, Rachel Sennott, Jennie Kim, Jane Adams, Dan Levy, Eli Roth, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Jennie Ruby Jane, Mike Dean, Moses Sumney, Ramsey, Suzanna Son, and Hank Azaria .
Tesfaye, Fahim, and Levinson (who also directs) are executive producers with Kevin Turen, Ashley Levinson, Joseph Epstein, Aaron L. Gilbert for Bron and Sara E. White. Produced in association with A24, The Idol will be released in HBO and HBO Max on June 4.