It all began with a Rolling Stone article from March of this year, before The Idol, the new HBO series billed as a more daring take on Euphoria, had even premiered.
The difficult part of developping the Idol
According to the aforementioned exposé, The Idol, which tells the tale of a pop singer at the peak of her career (Lily-Rose Depp), who meets the proprietor of a nightclub (The Weeknd), who is the head of a cult resembling the NXIVM (famous for involving Smallville actress Allison Mack), was supposed to win the coveted Golden Globe for Best Drama in November 2021. The first indication that something on the set of the show wasn’t going as it should have was when director Amy Seimetz left the production (or was sent away, it wouldn’t be clear) and HBO publicly commented on the separation saying the show would undergo a significant creative overhaul with consequences for both the cast and crew.
The divorce would have been attributed to The Weeknd, according to the limited accounts on the incident, who claimed that the program was taking on too much of a female perspective and was too focused on the protagonist.
The sources suggest that the director was in difficulties right away since she was working with a showrunner (Joe Epstein) for the first time, had incomplete scripts, had a strict filming schedule, and made demands that HBO was unable to meet.
Again, according to the sources consulted, the network would have anticipated a finished work similar to the show starring Zendaya, complete with video clips created specifically for the series and copious use of expensive locations, all in a short amount of time, about 5 months as opposed to the 7 of Euphoria and the 18 months of the previous project.
Rolling Stone would have learned that the delay was actually caused by the recently replaced director Sam Levinson, who would have practically revolutionized the project—and not necessarily for the better—after speaking with 13 members of the cast and crew. Sources claim that in order to overcome Euphoria, the director weakened the series’ main theme by including disturbing sexual material and numerous nude scenes, turning it from a fierce satire of the music industry’s star system into a work that perfectly captures what he was attempting to expose. He also made significant changes to Jocelyn’s story, turning her from a troubled star who falls prey to a predator.
“It’s like seeing on screen the violent fantasy of a toxic man from whom the victim returns because her music benefits from it“.
Although The Weeknd and Levinson did not publicly comment to the aforementioned piece, The Weeknd did tweet an explicit inquiry after citing Rolling Stone: “Did we upset you?”
According to Rolling Stone sources, Amy Seimetz’s departure would have been even more frustrating to the extent that, in addition to being accused of not being particularly present, co-producer and director Levinson, busy shooting the end of 2 ^ season of Euphoria, he would not have been too collaborative either and would have had an idea for the show that differed greatly from that of the director, so much so that it turned into a sort of Euphoria of the music world once she took over the helm of the series, which many have described as “frustrating”.
HBO first gave Seimetz full creative control, pushing her to invest a lot of her time and energy into a program that, at least up to that point, had very intriguing opening scripts that discussed the negative impacts of celebrity. The Weeknd and Levinson interfered, causing the work to slow down as a result. The material would be reviewed and retouched at least 20 more times, with a rhythm that some of the sources questioned called “crazy,” so much so that it had become impossible for the director to continue. In addition to covering this role, the director also started to review the existing scripts and write the missing ones from scratch.
HBO had never questioned the director’s work up until April 2022, when the cast and crew took a break before filming the season finale. However, when everyone returned to the set the following month, Seimetz had been replaced by Levinson, and the majority of the crew had been sent home.
The worst case scenario, according to reports, was that the rhythms and working procedures would not have changed at all, causing the production to be delayed until September or October instead of wrapping up in July. This would have increased tension between HBO and Levinson because of the constant script changes, which would eventually cause the director to stop sending the changes to the network executives because he believed the show would still be airing at that point.
Since the series transitioned from a product that discussed a young woman who rediscovers herself from a sexual point of view to that of one who enjoys being abused by a predator, the issue of the series’ contents and message, again based on the sources cited, would have become pressing. It specifically makes reference to a sequence (that was never captured on camera) when Tedros strikes Jocelyn and then gets an erection, prompting him to continue striking her, or another where the Depp character was made to carry an egg in her vagina.
The punishment comprised Tedros refusing to rape her if she broke or fell. Jocelyn lost control and urged him to rape her when this occurred because she was sure that her success hinged solely on him. The scene was never shot as a result since the production could not come up with a realistic approach to shoot it.
Given the numerous changes, the sources consulted are unable to comment on the show’s final course, but they can say, for instance, that a series with already-pushed sexual content has become even more explicit with the addition of Levinson.
“There’s no real reason why showing all these nude scenes, they’re not functional to the story, it’s like they’re just trying to see how far they can pull the rope.”
Due to layoffs and the current industry crisis, all of these changes would inevitably result in a budget increase from $54 million to $75 million. This would be a serious problem, and Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, would open the doors of his Bel-Air mansion to production in order to cover some of the costs.
THE IDOL: SUSPENDED OR NOT SUSPENDED?
According to Page Six’s most recent account of The Idol’s rocky history, HBO had no plans to continue the show for a second season and that the program was always intended to be a limited series.
The White Lotus and Euphoria premieres both had higher ratings, but HBO was still not persuaded enough to take action and deny the rumors in a tweet a few days ago, claiming that it had been “erroneously reported that a decision has already been made on the second season of The Idol.” It wasn’t taken, and we’re excited to share with you the new episode on Sunday night.
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