‘The Idol’, the series of The Weeknd and the creator of ‘Euphoria’, is a “pornographic sexual torture” according to his team

When development on “The Idol” series began with HBO Max in 2021, the streaming platform saw the project as a big bet for its back catalog. The series revolves around fame in the music industry, centered around a troubled pop star played by Lily-Rose Depp and a cult leader played by singer The Weeknd. Described as a darker, crazier and bolder version of “Euphoria”, Sam Levinson, creator of the previous series, directs and is the co-creator of “The Idol”. This last function is also performed by the musician. For months, the series has been the subject of controversy due to its chaotic production, an issue that Rolling Stone reiterates with statements that ensure that “The Idol”, both its plot and its production, has become something very murky, far from the original idea.

A Rolling Stone source explains that the plan was originally for ‘The Idol’ to premiere in the fall of 2022, but due to the issues surrounding it, they don’t know when it will finally be released. They also don’t know what the end result will be, because the American media inform it the production was a disaster, plagued by delays, reshoots, and more than 20 script rewrites.

The first of many issues that became public was in April 2022, when Amy Seimetz, director at the time, left the series with filming 80% completed. With Seimetz gone, HBO Max gave the job to Levinson, who He decided to give up almost everything recorded by the former director to introduce his vision. According to Rolling Stone’s sources, Levinson has ditched the original message the series wanted to convey and has focused increase disturbing sexual content and nudity. In this way, the series went from dealing with a troubled star victim of the industry to a humiliating love story with an empty message that some team members refer to as “offensive”. One of the big differences between Seimetz’s vision and Levinson’s, according to another source, is the main character, the pop star played by Depp: “It was a show about a woman who met sexually, but it turned into a show about a man who abuses this woman and likes her.”

An anonymous member of the production explains that everything surrounding ‘The Idol’ has become the very thing that the series originally intended to criticize: “What I signed up for was a dark satire of fame and the model of fame in the 21st century. The things we put our stars through. [La serie] it went from a satire to what was satirical”. “It was like a rape fantasy any toxic man would have on the show”explains another member of the series.“It was like a sexual torture porn.”

According to multiple Rolling Stone sources, Levinson’s scripts contain very disturbing and violent sex scenes between Depp and The Weeknd’s characters. In one draft, there was a scene where the musician character punches her in the face, but her response is to smile and tell him not to stop. This causes a boner in The Weeknd’s character. Another idea proposed was that she carried an egg in her vagina and if it fell or broke, he refused to rape her, but she begs him to rape her because he is the key to her success.

In addition to the radical change in tone of the series, according to several team members, working with Levinson was not easy, both for his person and for the chaotic production of ‘The Idol’. “I was so exhausted by the end. I was like, ‘I can’t have a job that makes me cry every day. because I have two hours to sleep. They are pulling me in 100 directions why Nobody knows what he’s doing, or nobody knows what he wants because we don’t know what we’re recording.'”says one of them. “There was always a sense of chaos because We never had a plan for what was going to happen today, tomorrow or the next scene.”, explains another. They also say it’s unclear what will end up appearing in the series, why the scripts were changed daily and the scenes were re-shot over and over again constantly.

Many of the production members do not want to collaborate with Levinson again and say he is creating a story of a chaotic work environment. “I would never work for him again”says a source. “I don’t think I will see Euphoria again after working for him and knowing how he treats his team”. However, not all the words they have dedicated to Levinson are negative. In a statement shared by HBO to People, ‘The Idol’ star Lily-Rose Depp defended the director: “Sam is, for many reasons, The best director I’ve ever worked with. I have never felt more supported or respected in a creative space. Working with Sam is a real collaboration in every way: he cares, more than anything else, not only what his actors think of the work, but also how we feel about performing it. He hires people whose work he appreciates and has always created an environment where I feel heard and loved.”

When production on “The Idol” resumed following Seimetz’s departure, most of the crew did not return. “I’m not sure I would have agreed if they asked me to come back. It was really hard.”Some of the cast who had filmed in Seimetz’s version were also fired. Some of those who stayed behind after Levinson’s arrival say the work environment has deteriorated, and no one from HBO has stepped in to make sure production stays on track.

Although Seimetz’ version of “The Idol” also contained nudity and sex scenes, production sources state that Levinson radically increased explicit content. This isn’t the first time, during both seasons of ‘Euphoria’ Levinson received criticism for taping nudes into a series of teenagers in scenes that didn’t call for it. Sydney Sweeney, Cassie in “Euphoria,” admitted she turned down several requests from Levinson for nude scenes. He revealed to The Independent that there were scenes where the script indicated that his character should be topless, but that he rejected it as he considered it unnecessary for the corresponding scene.

The Weeknd, part of the problem

According to Deadline, co-creator and star The Weeknd wasn’t happy that the series focused so much on the character of Depp in Seimetz’ version. One source claims it The Weeknd wanted the series to be centered around his character: “It was like The Weeknd wanted a show that was all about him” and, according to another source, “Sam [Levinston] I was fine with that.”

So much change of ideas in the script and in the recordings resulted in great economic losses during the filming. The budget increased from $40 million to $75 million when Seimetz left, plus everything the show needed after all the chaos Levinson brought with it. It got to a point where The Weeknd had to offer the mansion to him so that part of the filming would take place inside and thus cut costs. Also he took advantage of thousands of fans who attended one of his concerts to, without being aware of what was happening, register them as extras for the series without paying them anything. Depp appeared dressed as her character from ‘The Idol’ on stage in front of an audience that was waiting for The Weeknd to record a scene from the series without having to pay for location or extras.

‘Idol’ It doesn’t have a release date yet.