Sam Levinson Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

UPDATED: “You’re the American dream. Rags to riches. Trailers to mansions. You are f***ing Jocelyn. Just be you.” HBO released the final trailer Tuesday for music drama The Idol, starring Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp, ahead of its June 4 premiere. Watch it above.

BLACKPINK‘s Jennie has opened up about working with Lily-rose Depp on the upcoming HBO series The Idol.South Korean singer Jennie, of the K-pop girl group BLACKPINK, recently spoke about her experience working on the forthcoming HBO original TV series, starring Lily-Rose Depp and Abel Tesfaye (also known as The Weeknd).In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, Jennie touched what it was like to make her acting debut in The Idol and what it was like working with Depp. “It definitely was a challenge, because I’ve never experienced anything like that before. It was like, breaking a wall for me,” she said.“She really helped me a lot.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer HBO’s buzzy new original series “The Idol” has been steadily building momentum on the road to its June 4 debut — including a lavish world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, followed by one of the most talked-about afterparties on the Croisette. The show follows an embattled young pop star named Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp), recovering from a psychotic break after the death of her mother and hounded relentlessly by industry vultures that need her back on top. A sketchy Svengali named Tedros (Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye) appears in her life, promising artistic and sexual liberation and fame beyond her wildest dreams. “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson steers the show with co-creators Tesfaye and Reza Fahim.

Wow! The word out of Cannes was pretty strong about the show that’s supposed to be HBO‘s next big thing. What we heard was mostly about how graphic and sexually explicit it was — but apparently that’s nothing compared to how BAD it is??

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer The upper deck at France’s Hotel Du-Cap-Eden-Roc offers a stunning coastal view of nearby city Cannes, the kind that Jay Gatsby would covet to peep Daisy Buchanan. On Tuesday, at one of the hottest parties at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, that view belonged to Graydon Carter. Standing alone with a female companion, the creator of the digital publication Air Mail and iconic former editor of Vanity Fair observed not a long-lost love but a cliffside full of movie stars, auteur directors and Hollywood power players. Carter’s Air Mail co-hosted an evening celebrating the 100-year anniversary of Warner Bros. Pictures, the latter represented by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and his top content lieutenants. Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Lily-Rose Depp, Sam Levinson, Jason Statham and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Rebel Wilson and more turned up to toast cinema and each other.

Lily-Rose Depp plays a modern pop star in the upcoming Max series, but for her inspiration for the character, she drew on icons from different generations.«Of course, there are so many incredible pop stars of today that I have nothing but admiration and respect for — and of course, you can't help but thinking of when you think of a character like Jocelyn — but we're definitely not telling anybody else's story or trying to base her on any real person,» the actress explained to ET's Rachel Smith over a virtual interview from the Cannes Film Festival, where the series premiered its first two episodes this week.«We actually drew from a lot of other influences that are not pop stars,» she added. «We thought a lot about Sharon Stone in and the Gene Tierneys and Lauren Bacalls… all of these women that were very inspiring to me for the role.»There was plenty of pop star inspiration for Depp to draw from on set, as well.

Lily-Rose Depp is one proud daughter!

When the credits rolled at the Lumiere Theatre Monday evening following the debut of Sam Levinson’s The Idol, the loudest and heartiest cheer was handed to actor Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

“The Idol” made its debut at Cannes, with the heavily hyped HBO series earning a five-minute standing ovation while also stirring up controversy for its edgy, plentiful sex sequences — which led The Wrap to describe the show as “luxury sleaze.”

Lily-Rose Depp is one proud daughter!ET's Rachel Smith spoke to Lily-Rose virtually from the Cannes Film Festival in the South of France Tuesday, where she said she couldn't be happier for her father, Johnny Depp, following the seven-minute standing ovation he received after the premiere of his new biographical drama, .The film marked the opening of the 76th annual event, and the  star's first leading role since his highly publicized defamation trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard.The French-language film sees Johnny as King Louis XV. Set in the 18th century,  tells the story of Jeanne Bécu (Maïwenn), the daughter of an impoverished seamstress who rose through the Court of Louis XV and became his last official mistress.«I'm super happy for him.

“The Idol” creator Sam Levinson is taking the criticism around his upcoming HBO show in stride after accusations of a troubled production environment surfaced in a recent report. While on a panel Tuesday morning at Cannes Film Festival, Levinson addressed the scathing Rolling Stone article about his show, which detailed a “sense of chaos” on set and accused the series of having “disturbing sexual and physically violent scenes.”“We know that we’re making a show that is provocative.

Sometimes in Cannes it’s fun just to hover at the fringes of a party to observe the interactions, the body language, the eye-rolling, who’s drinking what and who isn’t.

The show is still days away from arriving on HBO, but the months leading up to the release have made “The Idol” a hot-button topic to discuss. And most of the discourse surrounds the behind-the-scenes drama that plagued the production.

idolizing.The upcoming HBO show “The Idol” — starring Lily-Rose Depp and Abel Tesfaye, aka “The Weeknd,” who is also a co-creator — is not getting glowing reviews from its debut at Cannes, where it screened its first two episodes on Monday.“The Idol,” or 50 SHADES OF TESFAYE: A Pornhub-homepage odyssey starring Lily-Rose Depp’s areolas and The Weeknd’s greasy rat tail,” one critic derided after viewing it.“Love that this will help launch the HBO Max rebrand, should slot nicely next to House Hunters!”Co-created by Sam Levinson of “Euphoria” fame, “The Idol” is about an up-and-coming pop star Jocelyn — played by Depp, who is the 23-year-old daughter of Johnny Depp — as she gets entangled with a sinister self-help guru, Tedros played by Tesfaye. The production has already been besieged by scandal, including an April report from Rolling Stone in which sources on the production described a chaotic environment behind the scenes and called it “torture porn” and “rape fantasy.”At the time, Tesfaye, 33, replied by posting a taunting message: “Did we upset you?”Another viewer who caught it at the film festival commented, “Ep 2 is straight-up pornographic there’s an entire 10-minute scene of The Weeknd talking dirty to Lily while she fingers herself for him, then he tells her to suck his c–k and she gives him head. The worst part is that Sam Levinson originally wanted that scene to be longer, too.”She also added that Depp’s character is nude or having sex in every episode.

The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp pose together at the photocall for The Idol at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday (May 23) in Cannes, France.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter One of the most talked-about titles at this year’s Cannes Film Festival isn’t a movie, but a TV show. “The Idol,” a scandalous, sexy and sure-to-be-polarizing series (think “Euphoria” but set in the world of pop music) about the price of fame, premiered two of the first five episodes at the festival and instantly inspired a thousand hot-takes about all that on-screen nudity, bodily fluids and Hollywood sycophants. But before “The Idol” — the brainchild of “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye — even made its way to the Croisette, an explosive report by Rolling Stone detailed on-set turmoil, including allegations of a toxic work environment, last-minute script rewrites and budgets gone wild.

Yes, there’s a reference made to Britney Spears in Sam Levinson’s new HBO series, The Idol, and Lily-Rose Depp does play a Britney like character whose looking to rise from her funk, but as the Euphoria creator said at the Cannes press conference today, “We’re not trying to tell a story about any particular pop star.”

HBO’s The Idol have sparked controversy among critics, with many criticising the overtly sexual nature of the series.The episodes were shown for the first time at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (May 22), making it the first show to have its official debut at the prestigious cinema event.It stars both Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd — who is working under his real name Abel Tesfaye — and follows the story of a world-famous pop star (Depp), whose relationship with sleazy mentor (Tesfaye) highlights the dark underbelly of the showbiz world.Following the first two episodes of the long-awaited series, the show — which is directed by Euphoria creator Sam Levinson — received a five-minute standing ovation from the audience. Critics, however, have taken a different approach – with many being quick to criticise the series for its explicit content and “regressive” narrative.A review by Variety proclaimed the series to play “like a sordid male fantasy” which “perpetuates the myth that pop stars are corporate puppets with no say in their own image-making”.

Lord, give me strength. From the first minute of “The Idol,” the already controversial music-based television series from HBO Max (sorry, Max), it’s clear that creators Abel Tesfaye (formerly known as The Weeknd), Sam Levinson, and Reza Fahim want to incite a reaction.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic What The Weeknd wants, The Weeknd gets in “The Idol,” a skintastic, dark-side-of-showbiz fable that perpetuates the myth that pop stars are corporate puppets with no say in their own image-making, even as it allows hit-maker The Weeknd to call the shots (and reshoots, apparently, since the five-part HBO series was overhauled late in production to suit him). Picture “Blonde” as Joe Eszterhas might have written it, but with better music. After making a toe-dip cameo as himself in A24’s “Uncut Gems,” the R&B phenom-turned-TV producer plunges head-first into acting here, teaming with “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson to imagine a shady super-predator just looking to corrupt an unsuspecting young pop singer. The edgy, high-gloss HBO series, which premiered the first two of its five episodes at the Cannes Film Festival, demands a lot of star Lily-Rose Depp. She plays “rags-to-riches, trailers-to-mansions” Jocelyn, a mono-monikered Britney or Miley type who seems empowered one moment, impressionable the next.

It’s hard to know what to say about Sam Levinson’s already controversial HBO series except that it says quite a lot about the increasingly attention-grabbing antics of the Cannes Film Festival that space was made at the prestigious Grand Théâtre Lumière for the first two episodes of a cable TV show. In a case of life imitating art, the crazy scenes surrounding the premiere would not have been out of place on the screen in a story that, at least as far as anyone could tell, is a satire on the sensation-saturated world of contemporary pop culture, where good is bad and bad is the bare minimum.

CANNES (Reuters) - "The Idol," HBO's much-hyped new series from the creator of "Euphoria" that bills itself as the "sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood," premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday. Travis Scott, Stella Maxwell and Julia Fox, wrapped in a plastic gown and wearing dark lipstick, joined Lily-Rose Depp and Abel Tesfaye, the stars of the show, on the red carpet, surrounded by screaming fans who packed the Croisette boulevard. Depp - whose famous father, Johnny Depp, also had a premiere at the festival - stars as Jocelyn, a pop singer trying to stage a sexier-than-ever comeback after suffering a nervous breakdown.

Sam Levinson’s The Idol, the new HBO series starring Lily-Rose Depp and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, received a five-minute-plus standing ovation after its world premiere out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday night.

The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp shut down the Croisette to show the price of fame — and plenty of raunchy intrigue — at the Cannes premiere of “The Idol” on Monday. Making direct parallels to superstar meltdowns like the one suffered by Britney Spears, the HBO Original series finally revealed itself at a packed gala screening. Revenge porn photos of bodily fluids on Depp’s face, masturbation with ice cubes, nightclub-owning scam artists and vile Hollywood sycophants populated the first two episodes of the already-controversial series. Co-created by Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, Reza Fahim and “Euphoria” visionary Sam Levinson, “The Idol” centers on an aspiring pop star named Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) who gets taken under the wing of a self-help guru (Tesfaye) amid her ascent in the music industry. Tesfaye’s character, Tedros, is a modern day cult leader. The supporting cast includes Suzanna Son, Troye Sivan, Dan Levy, Rachel Sennott and more.

The stars of HBO’s highly-anticipated new series The Idol have arrived at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival!

“When was the last truly f*cking nasty, nasty, bad pop girl?” This is the question posed in the teaser trailer to HBO’s The Idol, which promises the kind of lurid, adrenaline-pumping pop-culture exposé you’d see if Paul Verhoeven was ever allowed to make a film like Showgirls again. Said trailer also features copious quantities of cocaine, champagne and seriously dirty dancing, suggesting a warts-and-all drama about a super-ambitious Madonna/Lady Gaga type who has recently hit the big time in the dog-eat-dog world of showbiz.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jeremy O. Harris is best known as the playwright of “Slave Play,” which picked up a record-setting 12 Tony Award nominations in 2021, but he’s also a producer on HBO’s Emmy-winning “Euphoria.” During an interview as part of Variety and Kering’s Women in Motion talks at Cannes, Harris called on Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav “to make a deal” so that the ongoing writers strike can end and “Euphoria” Season 3 can go into production as scheduled. “All I’ll say is Sam Levinson is not a scab,” Harris said about the “Euphoria” creator not crossing picket lines to go into production. “He’s not a scab. David Zaslav, make a deal. That’s what I’ll say about Season 3 of ‘Euphoria.’ Make a deal, David. It’s easy. Just come to that table.”

“chaos” on the set of his upcoming HBO series “The Idol” as “ridiculous” in a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday.“I thought the article was ridiculous,” says the singer and actor, who now goes by his given name, Abel Tesfaye. He said he resented the magazine’s implication that “these are rapists trying to make a rape fantasy.”The Rolling Stone article relied on anonymous sources who described the Sam Levinson-directed series as  “sexual torture porn,” and as “any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show.” Vanity Fair’s Dan Adler has seen the first episode of the series which features Jocelyn, the singer played by Lily-Rose Depp, responding to a comment by her assistant Leia (Rachel Sennott) that Tedros (Tesfaye) is “so rape-y,” with, “Yeah, I kind of like that about him.” Leia then says, “Joc, no, gross. So disturbing.”Tesfaye told Vanity Fair that he has more in common with Depp’s character than his own: “Tedros is that superego that we as men wanna stay away from as much as possible.

Kid Cudi hosted one of his regular fan Q&A sessions on Twitter yesterday (May 14) to discuss the status of his forthcoming ninth studio album. In response to one tweet referencing “Solo Dolo Pt 4,” an unreleased track featuring Playboi Carti that Cudi has performed at recent concerts, Cudi said that Playboi Carti’s refusal to clear his appearance means the track won’t be included on his project.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor In a sprawling new cover story in Vanity Fair, the Weeknd talks about the dark rumors surrounding his forthcoming HBO series “The Idol” and speaks broadly of what will apparently be the third iteration of his musical persona.   The series comes at a transitional time for the artist, who spoke of his theatrical ambitions in an expansive 2020 Variety cover story pegged to the release of his blockbuster album “After Hours.” In many ways “The Idol” is a conclusion of that dark, superstar phase of the Weeknd: Although he insists he is not Tedros, the abusive and misogynistic Svengali he portrays in the show — who is manipulating a pop star played by Lily Rose Depp, both career-wise and personally — it’s not worlds away from the nihilistic, sex-obsessed, drug-addled persona that populates many of his songs. In fact, he says he’s closer to Depp’s character.          

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Filming HBO’s “The Idol” led to something of a breakdown for Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, the global pop star whose starring in the upcoming series as a self-help guru named Tedros who takes aspiring pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) under his wing. Back in September, Tesfaye cut short a concert in Los Angeles because he lost his voice. “I don’t know what just happened… but I just lost my voice,” the singer told the crowd from the stage. “This is killing me, I don’t want to stop the show but I can’t give you the concert I want to give you right now. I’m gonna make sure everybody’s good — you’ll get your money back — I’ll do a show real soon for you guys. But I wanted to come out and personally apologize.”

Charna Flam Ahead of the Cannes Film Festival debut and summer premiere of Sam Levinson’s upcoming drama series “The Idol,” the director offered some insight on how the HBO production was conceived. The “Euphoria” showrunner explained how the series lead, Abel Tesfaye, also known as The Weeknd, pitched the premise. “Abel came to us with a pitch,” Levinson told W Magazine. “He said something that I’ll always remember: ‘If I wanted to start a cult, I could.’” “What he meant is that his fans were so loyal and devoted that they would follow him anywhere,” Levinson continued. “That was the germ of the idea for ‘The Idol’: what happens when a pop star falls for the wrong guy and no one speaks up.”

In the months leading up to the release of HBO’s new musical drama, “The Idol,” most of the discussion has little to do with the footage that has been shown. Instead, everyone is talking about the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding the making of the show, including the massive challenge of reshooting the entire season midway through production.

lost his voice after his SoFi Stadium concert in September because he had to switch from his upcoming character in “The Idol” to his onstage persona.The concert doubled as a set for Sam Levinson’s new HBO show, set to premiere June 4. A scene in “The Idol” in which Tedros performs live brought Tesfaye back and forth between the mind of his club-owning character to the mindset of The Weeknd. Lily Rose-Depp was in attendance at the show to introduce Tedros in front of a live crowd for the scene being shot. Tesfaye’s Tedros, a darkly charismatic Svengali man, looks very different from how The Weeknd presents. “It was tough to go from one head to another.

The Weeknd has addressed the production troubles on his upcoming HBO series The Idol, describing the show’s overhaul as a “challenge”.Set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival later this month, The Idol follows aspiring pop singer Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) who falls into a complex relationship with self-help guru and cult leader Tedros (Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd).The series, created by Tesfaye, Reza Fahim and Euphoria’s Sam Levinson, underwent an overhaul in April 2022 after a rough-cut was completed. This led to various changes in the cast and crew, including the departure of director Amy Seimetz.According to an interview with Tesfaye and Levinson with W Magazine, the singer was concerned the dynamic between his cult figure character and Jocelyn in the original cut was “not as complex” as they had envisioned, which led to a “pivot”.“Film and TV is a new creative muscle for me,” Tesfaye told the outlet. “I don’t release my music until I think it is great.

Next month will bring the arrival of The Idol, the debut series by The Weeknd, to HBO. In a new interview with W Magazine, Abel Tesfaye has suggested that his move into film and TV has coincided with what he sees as the end of his music-making career, at least in some capacity. Speaking about where he is at creatively at the moment, Tesfaye told the magazine in a new cover story, "I’m going through a cathartic path right now.