HBO’s latest big-budget series The Idol, starring Lily-Rose Depp and Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd), has not been short of press.
Here at GLAMOUR we’ve been asking whether it’s the ‘most misogynistic TV show of the year?’, and we LOL'd at Saturday Night Live star Chloe Fineman’s viral spoof of Lily-Rose in the show. It’s been slated pretty much everywhere. From its distressingly awful sex scenes, lack of depth, and general misogynistic vibe – The Idol has rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way.
Sam Levinson, who is the creator of Euphoria, co-created The Idol with The Weeknd and Reza Fahim. The controversial series follows a pop star named Jocelyn (played by Lily-Rose), who is trying to find a resurgence in her career after suffering a mental breakdown after losing her mother. She meets club owner Tedros (Abel), and they begin a very toxic relationship. Two episodes have dropped thus far, and both have little narrative; it’s just a lot of smoking, porn-inspired dialect and male gaze.
The Idol initially had a female director, Amy Seimetz, who was reportedly 80% finished with the writing of this show, until it was scrapped.
In a statement given to Deadline, a spokesperson from Max (formerly HBO Max) explained that it was “evolving” its creative vision for the show, stating, “The Idol’s creative team continues to build, refine, and evolve their vision for the show and they have aligned on a new creative direction. The production will be adjusting its cast and crew accordingly to best serve this new approach to the series.”
Allegedly Abel Tesfaye felt the show was heading too much into a “female perspective.” God forbid! Recently, Rolling Stone published a shocking investigation into The Idol’s production, describing the series as “torture porn” and having gone “off the rails.”
Rightly, the show has gotten heat. It’s currently got a rating of just 26% on Rotten Tomatoes and many viewers have taken to Twitter to slam its awful writing. The whole thing feels like a parody, yet Sam takes it incredibly seriously. He cried at his own screening in Cannes.
Some scenes even Meryl Streep couldn’t salvage, given how poor the writing is.
The sex scenes, in particular, feel like an incel’s wet dream. Some of the worst dialogue includes (but is not limited to): “Make that throat wet for me” and “Fuckin' stretch that tiny little pussy.”
Despite this, Lily-Rose manages to claw back some authenticity in The Idol; showing the vulnerability and commodification of young female pop stars powerfully. In the second episode, specifically, she shines in an emotional scene: Jocelyn hits her limit, crying and calling out for her mom (who has died) during a video shoot. Telling her team, “I just need a second, and I'll go again,” as her feet bleed and she cries to Destiny (played by Da'Vine Joy Randolph).
It’s no small feat that amongst all of this misogynistic mess, Lily-Rose still manages to shine in the show. We’ve seen her talent in films like The King and A Faithful Man, but this is by far her biggest role yet. Yes, she’s very much a nepo baby, but she should not be solely or unfairly held accountable for the actions of gross men.
Lily-Rose Depp is just twenty-four years old. I hope she can look back on The Idol and feel that she had autonomy over her character’s portrayal in the show, and her treatment; so much of the nudity feels unnecessary, and the sex scenes objectify Joceyln routinely, that I’m not convinced she will.
Let us not write her career off because of this show. Sam Levinson and Abel Tesfaye are the not-so-masterful minds behind it, and they should be the ones held accountable.
Here's hoping her next project gives her the writing and direction her talent as an actor deserves…
Sam Levinson and The Weeknd’s hotly-anticipated drama has got everybody talking.
