Amid ‘rape fantasy’ accusations, The Idol team fires back at Rolling Stone | Web Series
Sam Levinson, the director of Euphoria, has been slammed for increasing the sexual content and nudity of the upcoming HBO drama, The Idol, starring The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp and turning it into a “rape fantasy.” In a new report, 13 anonymous sources from the crew have accused Sam Levinson for disrupting the production and spoke out over their discomfort with Sam’s new creative direction. (Also read: The Weeknd and Jenna Ortega to star in a mysterious film project)
The Idol reportedly tells the story about a self-help guru and leader of a modern-day cult, played by The Weeknd, who gets into “a complicated relationship with a rising pop idol,” played by actor Lily-Rose Depp. Director Amy Seimetz who was originally attached to direct the series, took an exit on April 2022 when almost 80% of the 6-part series was finished as both Sam and The Weeknd were apprehensive that the show was focused heavily on the “female perspective.” Sam Levinson then took over as the director and scrapped the nearly-finished project to rewrite and reshoot it, “making it less about a troubled starlet falling victim to a predatory industry figure and fighting to reclaim her own agency, and more of a degrading love story with a hollow message.”
In a report published by Rolling Stone, several crew members have accused Sam Levinson for creating a ‘frustrating’ atmosphere on set. “It’s really frustrating seeing Amy [Seimetz] doing her damn best to turn around some kind of product that she can be somewhat proud of to HBO and then [for HBO] to turn around and get Sam get essentially a blank check to turn it into ‘Euphoria Season Three with pop stars’ is extremely extremely frustrating.” quoted a source. “It 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,” one production member told the magazine. The report also details some of the disturbing additions to the series, with one episode in which the Weeknd [whose real name is Abel Tesfaye] allegedly smashes Depp’s character’s face and she smiles and asks to be beaten more, which gives Tesfaye an erection. Rolling Stone added that the proposed scene was never actually shot.
Meanwhile, The Weeknd also added in to the controversy after the report was published on Wednesday, to post on Instagram with actor Lily-Rose Depp in which he threw shade at Rolling Stone in a scene from The Idol, and called them “irrelevant” and “past its prime.” He captioned the clip, “@rollingstone did we upset you?”
However, not many appreciated the ‘petty’ comeback. “Have many questions for the team of people who told you this was the way you should respond,” read a comment on the post. “This is such a bad look (and I’m not talking about the excellent reporting from @RollingStone,” wrote another.
The release date for The Idol has not been announced yet.
