Cannes Fest 2023: The Idol, Sam (“Euphoria”) Levinson’s Controversial HBO Series

May 22, 2023 by

‘The Idol’ Premiere at Cannes Fest

HBO’s drama sees Lily-Rose Depp plays a pop star on the edge of a nervous breakdown who is drawn to a cult figure, played by The Weeknd in his TV acting debut.

Abel The Weeknd Tesfaye, Lily-Rose Depp and Sam Levinson attend the The Idol red carpet during the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 22, 2023 in Cannes, France.
Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, Lily-Rose Depp, Sam Levinson attend the “The Idol” premiere at Palais des Festivals May 22, 2023. KRISTY SPAROW/GETTY IMAGES
The world premiere of HBO controversial sexy pop star drama series The Idol at the Cannes Film Festival Monday night was met with polite applause from the festival audience, who gave it a standard-measure 5-minute standing ovation, and a few tears.
Series director and co-creator Sam Levinson started to choke up in his thank you speech after the screening.

Saying it was “a dream” to be at the Cannes festival, Levinson countered reports of turmoil and poor working environment during the making of the series, saying he was “proud of this show, proud of how we made this show.”

Tesfaye and Depp joined Levinson on the Cannes red carpet, along with The Idol supporting cast, Moses Sumney, Troye Sivan, Jennie Kim and Jane Adams.
HBO boss Casey Bloys and David Zaslav, CEO of HBO parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, also made the trip to Cannes to support the show.

The sexual contents — including revenge porn photos, occasional nudity and some mild S&M — was tame by Cannes standards but could provoke scandal stateside when The Idol premieres on HBO on June 4. Fans of Levinson’s explicit Euphoria will know what they are getting into.

There have been behind-the-scenes reports of last-minute revisions, budgetary problems and allegations of a chaotic working environment on the set of The Idol.

The allegations, originally published in Rolling Stone, have been denied by Depp and The Weeknd.

Levinson countered that narrative on Monday night, praising the members of The Idol cast, signaling out Depp, who he called “fearless” and adding that in the making of the series, “I feel like I gained a family. I know that’s a little culty, but that’s how it feels.”

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