Plainly The Weeknd ought to’ve saved his criticism-induced tears for an additional day.
Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and actor Lily-Rose Depp have responded to an unsettling Rolling Stone exposé revealed Wednesday that alleges that manufacturing for his or her upcoming HBO sequence “The Idol” — during which they star — has been a “shitshow,” as one supply put it.
The journal spoke to 13 nameless sources from the present’s solid and crew, who stated they initially signed on to assist create a “darkish satire of fame” that devolved right into a “poisonous” man’s “rape fantasy.”
The present facilities round Tedros (Tesfaye), a “self-help guru and chief of a modern-day cult” who develops a relationship with Jocelyn (Depp), “an up-and-coming pop idol,” in response to an HBO press launch.
Sources instructed Rolling Stone the present took a flip for the more severe when “Euphoria” showrunner Sam Levinson took over directing duties from Amy Seimetz of “The Girlfriend Expertise” and “She Dies Tomorrow,” who instantly left after roughly 80% of the six-episode sequence was completed.
The sources stated that beneath Levinson’s management, manufacturing has been plagued with delays, reshoots and erratic and “disturbing” rewrites.
Tesfaye and Levinson didn't reply to Rolling Stone’s request for touch upon the report.
However Tesfaye later made his ideas in regards to the piece crystal-clear, tagging the journal in a tweet that stated, “.@RollingStone did we upset you?”
Additionally included in his put up is a snippet from a scene in “The Idol” that options his and Depp’s characters, Tedros and Jocelyn, talking with a publicist performed by Dan Levy. Within the scene, Levy’s character is attempting to speak Joceclyn into doing a canopy function with Rolling Stone.
“Rolling Stone? Aren’t they a bit irrelevant?” Tedros says within the clip.
Jocelyn then means that the journal is “a bit previous its prime,” with Tedros including:
“No one cares about Rolling Stone.”
Tedros then opens his telephone to check the journal’s 6 million Instagram followers with Jocelyn’s 78 million.
Tesfaye’s put up didn’t land properly on Twitter:
Depp, who didn't converse to Rolling Stone, responded to the exposé extra formally, telling Selection Wednesday in an announcement:
“Sam is, for therefore many causes, the perfect director I've ever labored with. By no means have I felt extra supported or revered in a inventive house, my enter and opinions extra valued.”
She added:
“He hires individuals whose work he esteems and has all the time created an setting during which I felt seen, heard, and appreciated.”
Deadline reported final April that Tesfaye, who additionally co-created “The Idol,” is the explanation Levinson took the helm of the mission. The “Blinding Lights” singer was allegedly sad that Seimetz, the unique director, was focusing an excessive amount of on the “feminine perspective” of Depp’s character quite than his personal.
Sources instructed Rolling Stone that Levinson muddled the present’s preliminary message about “a lady who was discovering herself sexually” and morphed it right into a story about “a person who will get to abuse this girl and he or she loves it.” Rolling Stone additionally described drafts of scripts that have been fortunately by no means shot however included alarming scenes.
One scene reportedly consisted of Tedros bashing in Jocelyn’s face, leading to her asking him to beat her extra. One other state of affairs concerned Jocelyn being requested to insert a vaginal egg, and if she dropped or cracked it, Tedros would refuse to “rape” her — which reportedly sends Jocelyn right into a spiral during which she begs him to rape her as a result of she believes he's the important thing to her success.
“It was like, ‘What is that this? What am I studying right here?’” one supply instructed Rolling Stone of those scenes. “It was like sexual torture porn.”
It's nonetheless unclear when “The Idol” will premiere, however HBO says it is going to be someday this yr.
To learn all of the allegations sources made in regards to the present’s manufacturing, head over to Rolling Stone.
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