The Weeknd

When Does HBO’s ‘The Idol’ Come Out?

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It feels like it’s been ages since Variety first reported The Weeknd was co-creating a forthcoming HBO series, The Idol, with Euphoria‘s Sam Levinson. Enough nonsense has happened since July 2021 — scratch that, enough has happened just today, March 1 — to satisfy a six-episode arc, making it even more confusing to identify when The Idol‘s first season will actually premiere.

The Idol was already off to a rocky start. It was reported last April that the series was undergoing “an overhaul” due to a “new creative direction,” including the departure of director Amy Seimetz.

And today, Rolling Stone published a very long bombshell report detailing some very disturbing (alleged) turmoil, which one source called “a sh*tshow.” Across interviews with 13 unnamed members of The Idol‘s cast and crew, reporter Cheyenne Roundtree learned that The Weeknd “felt the show was heading too much into a ‘female perspective.’” When Levinson replaced Seimetz as director, he allegedly threw out “the nearly-finished $54-75 million project to rewrite and reshoot the entire thing.”

Roundtree added, “With Seimetz out of the picture, HBO handed the reins to Levinson, only to have him weaken the show’s overarching message, many sources say, by dialing up the disturbing sexual content and nudity to match — and even surpass — that of his most successful show, Euphoria.”

The publication additionally provided an update on when any of us might be able to watch The Idol: “One source with knowledge of the production schedule tells Rolling Stone the network initially hoped for The Idol to premiere last fall, taking over the Sunday time slot left open by House of the Dragon, which ended in October. Yet three teaser trailers have come and gone, and HBO can still only offer a vague ‘later this year.’ (A rep for the network declined to comment on when the show will air.)”

For now, all we have is a scene shared by The Weeknd in response to Rolling Stone‘s scathing report:

And Rolling Stone‘s Editor In Chief Noah Schachtman dunking on it:

After all of that, the plot of The Idol feels like a footnote, but The Weeknd stars as Tedros, “a self-help guru and leader of a modern-day cult” who “enters a complicated relationship with a rising pop idol, Lily-Rose Depp’s Jocelyn (as noted by IMDb). Dan Levy, Suzanna Son, Troye Sivan, Moses Sumney, Jennie Kim, and Jane Adams are among those also listed in the cast.

The Weeknd Responded To ‘Rolling Stone’s Report About ‘The Idol’ With A Scene From ‘The Idol’ Dissing ‘Rolling Stone’

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Earlier today, Rolling Stone published an article detailing some of the production changes to the anticipated HBO drama The Idol in which members of the crew deride the production as a “sh*tshow” and criticize its new direction, which has been reportedly guided by co-creators Sam Levinson and The Weeknd, who also stars.

Well, The Weeknd clearly wasn’t going to take that criticism lying down and the perfect response ready to go, straight from the show itself. On Twitter, he posted a clip of the show in which his character calls the publication “irrelevant,” with the caption, “@RollingStone did we upset you?” The clip depicts Daniel Levy’s publicist pitching a cover story to his client, Lily-Rose Depp’s Jocelyn, only to be shut down by The Weeknd’s Tedros.

Of course, in the context of the show’s premise, this doesn’t quite scan as the harsh put-down of legacy publications it may seem at first blush. After all, according to HBO’s own publicity for the show, secret cult leader Tedros is a harmful influence on Jocelyn; in Rolling Stone‘s report, his actions toward her are described by the show’s own staff as “sexual torture porn.”

While it seems unlikely that The Weeknd has completely misunderstood the premise of his own show, reports have speculated that the reason for the controversial new direction stemmed from his distaste for the original director, Amy Seimetz’s, treatment of the material, which focused more on Jocelyn’s character than on Tedros.

Seimetz departed the nearly complete show last spring, replaced as director by Levinson, and most of the negative comments were focused on his new treatment, which turned the show from “a dark satire” into “the thing it was satirizing.” This tends to corroborate prior statements made about Levinson’s other HBO show, Euphoria, which has drawn criticism for its explicit content.

Is it possible that this is all some elaborate form of guerilla marketing? Maybe. But considering the show isn’t even completed yet — it doesn’t even have a release date, although HBO is still aiming for sometime in 2023 — it seems we won’t find out for a while… and the show we ultimately get might be completely different than either of the two shows described in Rolling Stone‘s report.

The Weeknd Slams Rolling Stone Report On “The Idol”: “Did We Upset You?”

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The Weeknd is on Rolling Stone’s neck following a recent claim surrounding the set of HBO’s The Idol. The Weeknd shared a snippet of his upcoming series, where he throws shade at the publication. In the clip, we see self-help guru Tedros (played by The Weeknd) seated poolside with Jocelyn (played by Lily-Rose Depp) conversing with Dan Levy’s character. When a Rolling Stone cover story is mentioned, Tedros dismisses the publication as “irrelevant,” mirroring his own feelings towards them.

“Rolling Stone? Aren’t they a little irrelevant?” Tedros asks. Levy explained how the publication is a “heritage brand” before Jocelyn said they’re “past its prime.” “Nobody cares about Rolling Stone … Rolling Stone has 6 million followers on Instagram, half of them probably bots. And Jocelyn has 78 million followers. All real. So she does a photoshoot, she tags them, they get her followers, more money for Rolling Stone, nothing for Jocelyn.” The Weeknd captioned the clip, “@rollingstone did we upset you?”

Rolling Stone’s Report On The Weeknd’s “The Idol”

Rolling Stone shared a report consisting of interviews with 11 members of the cast and crew who detailed the chaotic production. First, Amy Seimetz was announced to direct all six episodes before leaving the series as part of a “major creative overhaul.” However, the report details an alleged “shitshow” behind the scenes that has veered far from the central message that was initially conveyed in the story. “It went from satire to the thing it was satirizing,” one source said. Another added described parts of the script – which have not been filmed – “like sexual torture porn.”

HBO issued a statement to Complex following the bombshell report. “The initial approach on the show and production of the early episodes, unfortunately, did not meet HBO standards so we chose to make a change. Throughout the process, the creative team has been committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment, and last year, the team made creative changes they felt were in the best interest of both the production and the cast and crew. We look forward to sharing The Idol with audiences soon.”

[Via] [Via]

The Weeknd’s HBO Concert Film ‘Live At SoFi Stadium’ Is Getting Released As A Live Album, Too

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Just days after dropping his live concert film Live At SoFi Stadium, The Weeknd is dropping a companion album. The pop star announced the live album via social media today (March 1).

In the concert film, fans see The Weeknd performing at the iconic Los Angeles venue, delivering live performances of songs from all of his eras. Fans are seen singing and shouting the lyrics to his universal hits like “I Feel It Coming,” “The Hills,” and “Die For You” — the latter recently got an Ariana Grande remix nearly seven years after its original release.

In a 2021 interview with GQ, The Weeknd shared what he thinks makes his music so timeless.

“What makes any of my albums a successful album, especially this one, is me putting it out and getting excited to make the next one,” he said. “So the excitement to make the next project means that this one was successful to me. I want to do this forever. And even if I start getting into different mediums and different types of expressions, music will be right there. I’m not going to step away from it.”

Find the cover art for Live At SoFi Stadium below.

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Republic

Live At SoFi Stadium is out 3/3 via Republic Records.

The Weeknd Reportedly Became Less Hands-On With ‘The Idol’ After His HBO Show Had A Major Change In Direction

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In a new piece from Rolling Stone, anonymous members of the cast and crew of Sam Levinson and The Weeknd’s forthcoming HBO show, The Idol, opened up about the reportedly toxic work environment that spiraled out of control.

The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) both starred and co-created the show. However, it was originally set to be directed by Amy Seimetz before she left the show — and Levinson (Euphoria) took over in her place. This is reportedly when the chaos started, resulting in an overhaul of Seimetz’s direction and shoots.

“It was like the Weeknd wanted one show that was all about him — Sam was on board with that,” a source shared. However, they also faced alleged difficulty with Tesfaye’s schedule as a musician, causing him to be less hands-on: “It was really frustrating because they were working so hard to make it possible to shoot and be released with his concert or whatever his timeline was [and] it all got thrown out the window.”

The piece goes on to note that three crew members claim that despite Tesfaye’s writing credits on the series, he didn’t contribute much to scripts during the reshoots.

Last April, there was also a Deadline report that Tesfaye felt the show was focusing too much on his co-star, Lily Rose-Depp, as he thought it had too much of a “female perspective.”

The Weeknd Reportedly Caused ‘The Idol’ To Be Overhauled Because Of Its ‘Female Perspective’

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The Weeknd’s breakout role in the HBO series The Idol, might not have been quite the creative environment parties were looking for. The “Die For You” singer may have broken several streaming records, including becoming the first artist to cross the 100 million monthly listeners metric; however, according to reports, his television and film career could be off to a rocky start.

The recording artist, real name Abel Makkonen Tesfaye joined forces with Reza Fahim and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson to bring, in the network’s words, the “sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood” to light. While the show, slated to be released later this year, has recently undergone a “new creative direction,” Rolling Stone reports that the pivot wasn’t received well by cast and crew members.

According to Rolling Stone, the Oscar-nominated singer was not pleased that his co-star Lily-Rose Depp’s character received a bulk of the plot’s attention. As a result, allegedly, Tesfaye championed a major behind-the-scenes narrative shift to drop the story’s “feminist lens.”

A source told RS, “It was like the Weeknd wanted one show that was all about him — Sam was on board with that.” This could have supposedly played a part in director Amy Seimetz’s exit from the series back in April 2022. Another source shared, “What I signed up for was a dark satire of fame and the fame model in the 21st century,” but since the changes, “It went from satire to the thing it was satirizing.”

“It was like, ‘What is this? What am I reading here,’” said the source adding, “It was like sexual torture porn.”

The source shared that although Seimetz’s version would have contained sex scenes and nudity, production sources claim Levinson dramatically ramped up the explicit content with Tesfaye’s full support after taking over as director.

The outlet reached out to both Levinson and Tesfaye for comment. However, neither answered the request. On the other hand, Depp did provide a statement to Rolling Stone, in which she specifically sings the praises of Levinson. “[Levinson is] the best director,” said Depp before adding that she “felt more supported or respected in a creative space, my input, and opinions more valued.”

Despite the anonymous reports shared with RS, HBO shared in a statement, “the creative team has been committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment, and last year, the team made creative changes they felt were in the best interest of both the production and the cast and crew.”

Leaked Scripts For HBO’s ‘The Idol’ Reportedly Feature The Weeknd’s Character Doing Some Disturbingly Violent And Sexual Things

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HBO’s upcoming series The Idol is already proving to be one of the most talked about series of 2023, despite not having an actual premiere date. However, the Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye-created series seems to be proving rather chaotic and disastrous behind the scenes, not unlike the second season of Levinson’s teen drama, Euphoria.

Last April, the show was reported to go into an overhaul, with Levinson taking over as the show’s director, in place of Amy Seimetz, who was originally set to direct the series.

According to several anonymous sources, who spoke to Rolling Stone, Levinson ramped up the sexual content during the overhaul.

According to Rolling Stone:

“At various points, Levinson’s scripts contained disturbing sexual and physically violent scenes between [Lily Rose] Depp and Tesfaye’s characters, three sources familiar with the matter claim. In one draft episode, there allegedly was a scene where Tesfaye bashes in Depp’s face, and her character smiles and asks to be beaten more, giving Tesfaye an erection. (This scene was never shot, the source says.) Another proposed scenario was for Depp to carry an egg in her vagina and if she dropped or cracked the egg, Tesfaye’s character would refuse to “rape” her — which sent Depp’s character into a spiral, begging him to ‘rape’ her because she believed he was the key to her success. (This scene also was not filmed because production couldn’t find a way to realistically shoot the scene without having Depp physically insert the egg, another source explains.)”

Another source claimed that while The Idol was supposed to explore and satirize the dark side of 21st-century stardom, the show lost its original messaging amid the overhaul.

“It was a show about a woman who was finding herself sexually, turned into a show about a man who gets to abuse this woman and she loves it,” said the source.

At the time of writing, it is unclear which scenes will make it into the final show, as many of the sources say that scripts were being changed and rewritten daily. According to one source, Levinson had stopped turning in scripts to the higher-ups at HBO at one point during production.

The Weeknd’s HBO Show ‘The Idol’ Is Reportedly A ‘Sh*tshow’ Due To Drastic Changes, Production Issues, And So Much More

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When it was reported that the buzzy upcoming HBO show The Idol was undergoing massive production changes last April, all anyone could do was speculate on the supposed “new creative direction” it would take. Interest in the show was high, given its all-star cast consisting of co-creator Abel Tesfaye (better known as The Weeknd) and Lily-Rose Depp and the involvement of high-profile producer Sam Levinson of Euphoria fame.

However, a new report from Rolling Stone suggests that the changes have mostly been for the worst, with the show going from “a dark satire of fame and the fame model in the 21st century,” according to one production member, “to the thing it was satirizing.”

The show, which was to follow Depp’s character as she became involved in a cult led by Tesfaye’s character, was overhauled as The Weeknd apparently felt it was focusing too much on the “female perspective” and wanted to highlight his character more. This reportedly led to director Amy Seimetz (She Dies Tomorrow, The Girlfriend Experience) dropping out and Levinson replacing her as director, then promptly throwing out everything she’d already shot — 80 percent of the six-episode series.

The new material has been described as “any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show,” with lurid depictions of sexual encounters between Tesfaye and Depp’s characters in scripts, ramped-up explicit nudity, and even a violent scene in which Tesfaye’s character beats Depp. While some of these scenes were never shot, one source described the scripts as “sexual torture porn.”

Many of the sources say they don’t even know what will make it into the final show because so many scenes were reshot, scripts were changed daily, and the shoot went wildly over budget and time. High-profile castings such as Blackpink’s Jennie amounted to inconsequential storylines, with a crew member saying, “Her job was to sit there [and] look pretty, basically.” Meanwhile, other actors were “wiped from the show” entirely after thinking they’d gotten their big breaks.

With so many issues, there’s no telling how the show itself will actually turn out, but HBO continues to promote it with multiple trailers, even though a release date has yet to be determined (it’s still aiming for sometime in 2023).

We’ll see if Levinson, The Weeknd, or any of the cast have anything to say, but for now, things aren’t looking great. Still the show is already shaping up to be another hit for HBO — the real question is, will it be worth it?