Sam Levinson, director of the upcoming HBO sequence The Idol has revealed how The Weeknd – actual title Abel Tesfaye – first pitched the concept of the present to him.
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Chatting with W Journal, Levinson recalled: “Abel got here to us with a pitch. He stated one thing that I’ll at all times keep in mind: ‘If I needed to start out a cult, I might.’ What he meant is that his followers had been so loyal and devoted that they’d comply with him wherever. That was the germ of the concept for The Idol: what occurs when a pop star falls for the fallacious man and nobody speaks up.”
Levinson and The Weeknd had an overview for the present two days later, and approached HBO with a script for the sequence’ pilot episode later, with the community reportedly selecting it up instantly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gafzgRqqHJw
Tesfaye and Levinson picked a contemporary group to deal with manufacturing on the present, led by director Amy Seimetz as Levinson was busy engaged on Euphoria on the time. Nevertheless, Seimetz’ model of The Idol underwent an overhaul in April 2022 after a rough-cut was accomplished that led to numerous adjustments within the solid and crew, together with the departure of Seimetz.
Tesfaye was reportedly involved the dynamic between his cult determine character and Jocelyn within the unique lower was “not as complicated” as that they had initially envisioned, which led to a “pivot”. “Movie and TV is a brand new artistic muscle for me,” Tesfaye stated. “I don’t launch my music till I feel it’s nice. Why would this be any totally different?”
In a report on Rolling Stone earlier this 12 months, varied nameless sources alleged that Levinson’s rewrites and reshoots added extra nudity and disturbing sexual content material which modified the present’s message.
In April 2022, Deadline reported that the present was getting a rehaul as Tesfaye was sad with the present’s artistic route, which on the time reportedly targeted an excessive amount of on “the feminine perspective” of Depp’s character, somewhat than his personal.
