The upcoming HBO show The Idol has already drawn much negative attention for its reportedly toxic on-set environment and anti-feminist content, and in a new interview, star Lily-Rose Depp divulged a revealing detail describing her experience working alongside The Weeknd, the show’s co-creator and her co-star.
The Weeknd, who’s recently expressed a desire to go by his given name, Abel Tesfaye, rather than his larger-than-life pop persona moniker, plays a cult leader-like nightclub owner on the show named Tedros. His character draws Depp, playing a pop princess named Jocelyn, into his sinister orbit.
While discussing the cast’s approach to acting on The Idol, Depp told Entertainment Weekly, “I don’t think anybody went full method—nobody lost their minds.”
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“Well, sometimes when Abel would get—I don’t want to reveal too much about where Abel's character goes,” Depp continued, “but when he would be in full Tedros mode sometimes, I would steer clear of him. I’d be like, ‘He’s in his zone right now.’”
In Rolling Stone’s report about the show, which Tesfaye responded to with a petty Twitter post, one unnamed production member said that co-creator Sam Levinson’s vision for The Idol “was like any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show—and then the woman comes back for more because it makes her music better.”
Tesfaye also reportedly overhauled the show’s content when he felt that The Idol was beginning to lean too much into a “female perspective.”
