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Tag: The Idol

  • Smile 2: Stars—They’re Just Like Us!, Or: Even Pop Stars Get Demonically Possessed

    Smile 2: Stars—They’re Just Like Us!, Or: Even Pop Stars Get Demonically Possessed

    With such pressure to outperform the success of 2022’s Smile, writer-director Parker Finn wanted to approach the movie’s sequel from an entirely new angle. And what could be more divergent from the setting of the first movie than the (theoretically) high-glamor world of pop stardom? In Smile 2, the pop star in the eye of the proverbial storm is Skye Riley (Naomi Scott)—think of her as an Ashley O (Miley Cyrus) from Black Mirror type, or even a Celeste from Vox Lux sort. Or, if one wants to make real-life comparisons, there are a few similar options to choose from, including Halsey and Lady Gaga. It is the latter that Naomi Scott specifically calls out as a source of inspiration, particularly her early 2010s aesthetic and musical vibe.

    But then, of course, there is the Britney Spears element of it all—not just in terms of Skye being scrutinized for her “bad,” drug-addled behavior, but also because of the nature of her relationship with her mother, Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt). It is she who embodies the entire Spears family by acting as her “momager” and, therefore, usually being most concerned with how much money Skye can make for “them” (but really, for Elizabeth). During her “off the rails” period, Elizabeth was clearly more concerned with “getting her back on track” for financial reasons as opposed to reasons related to concern for her well-being. Which, yes, smacks of the way Britney was given essentially no time to recover after her 2007 through early 2008 breakdown before she was cajoled into putting out new music and going on a tour. In many regards, too, Skye’s substance abuse and mental breakdown that caused her to cancel her last tour bears a similarity to Jocelyn’s (Lily-Rose Depp) backstory in The Idol (and yes, Spears was also the blueprint for creating the Jocelyn character, as was the abovementioned Ashley O).

    In order to do some “damage control” for that breakdown, which came to the fore after she got in a car accident with her boyfriend, Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson—that’s right, the son of Jack), while both were intoxicated, Skye agrees to make her first promotional appearance in a year on, of all things, The Drew Barrymore Show. Which makes plenty of sense when one takes into account the meta nature of Drew Barrymore being an essential to the opening of any horror movie.

    What’s more, there’s even another new pop star in the game that exhibits occasional similarities to Skye—at least in terms of her emotional fragility. That pop star being, of course, Chappell Roan. Particularly in terms of how creeped out Skye starts to get by her obsessive fans—even if that’s due, in part, to “The Smiler” (as the demonic essence/antagonist of the movie is called) making them seem creepier than they actually are…to an extent. Because everyone knows fandoms really can come across that way. In any event, the “creep factor” doesn’t just include The Smiler’s ability to make fans at a meet-and-greet smile at her in that eerie, plastered-on way, but also its ability to make them seemingly appear anytime, anywhere. Most chillingly of all, inside of her massive NYC apartment, where one especially notable scene (the one where a gaggle of them are leering/diabolically smiling at her from within her closet, before chasing after her throughout the abode) comes off as a re-creation of how Roan must more than occasionally feel about her own obsessive fans: like they’re going to fucking murder her and wear her skin.

    Needless to say, The Smiler is tapping into Skye’s dormant anxieties about her fans and their potential for “going totally psycho” on her at the drop of a fedora hat (that’s a 2003 Britney reference). To be sure, The Smiler is having an even easier time toying with and preying upon the headspace of a pop star, though that’s not why Finn opted to make Smile 2 come from this perspective.

    Instead, Finn’s decision to render the Smile 2 universe from the view of a pop star was largely due to his desire to challenge himself with the difficulties that setting and lifestyle would present. As Finn recounted to The Wrap, “I really wanted to step back from what I had done in the first film, and try to be like, ‘What is the least likely path forward for a sequel?’ I really wanted to challenge myself and drill down. Any idea that I could come up with that first week or two, I was like, ‘This is too obvious.’ I really held it to task.” The result is a breed of horror that’s right at home with pop music and celebrity, for as many a famous pop star keeps emphasizing more and more: there’s nothing fucking scarier/more potentially life-threatening than being known on an international level. Making the pressures of an already demanding job become further compounded by all the scrutiny. Add a “cosmic evil beam that no one else can see” into the mix and the pressure becomes insurmountable (which, in Skye’s case, results in severe bouts of trichotillomania).

    Indeed, this turns out to be one of the most surprising statements of Smile 2: that it’s almost a kind of defense/“let’s have more empathy” for famous people manifesto. As The Wrap phrased it, “This isn’t someone who can suffer in isolation. Everyone will see her disintegrate.” And that makes everything feel so much more heightened—not just for Skye, but for the audience watching, often suffering from second-hand embarrassment as they watch her “biff it” in very public scenarios. For example, while acting as a presenter at a music industry charity event, Skye not only goes out onstage nwith smeared lipstick (after swatting away a bug from her face backstage), but also proceeds to act increasingly unhinged once the teleprompter ceases to show her what she’s supposed to say next.

    Of course, no matter what she says or does next, in the end, just as it was in Smile, Skye 1) can’t even be sure what is and is not reality and 2) it won’t matter if it is or not anyway since The Smiler is bound to have his “committing suicide” way with her. Granted, the manner in which the “entity” does it this time around has far graver consequences for the witness(es) of her death. But at least those taking in Skye’s demise can relish that certain “Stars—They’re Just Like Us!” quality. Even if nothing could be further from the truth.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • The Weeknd’s ‘The Idol’ cancelled by HBO after controversial 1st season – National | Globalnews.ca

    The Weeknd’s ‘The Idol’ cancelled by HBO after controversial 1st season – National | Globalnews.ca

    After only one highly criticized season, The Idol is over.

    On Monday, HBO announced the TV drama from Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye would not return for a second season.

    “The Idol was one of HBO’s most provocative original programs, and we’re pleased by the strong audience response,” HBO said in a statement. “After much thought and consideration, HBO, as well as the creators and producers have decided not to move forward with a second season. We’re grateful to the creators, cast, and crew for their incredible work.”

    The Idol‘s five-episode season, starring Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp, was certainly “provocative,” but not well-received.

    The drama follows Jocelyn (Depp), a pop superstar who navigates through dark corners of Hollywood and falls in love with her abuser, the rat-tail-sporting cult leader Tedros (Tesfaye). Through ample nudity and real lines like “Mental illness is sexy,” co-creators Tesfaye and Levinson spun a dark, often laugh-worthy narrative shunned by critics and viewers alike.

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    Even before its debut in June, there was controversy surrounding The Idol. Director Amy Seimetz quit the production in April, and was replaced by Levinson, who reshot many scenes. One month later, Rolling Stone released a report claiming the show is a “rape fantasy” that was filmed on a film set with a toxic, disorganized work environment. (In response to the Rolling Stone article, Tesfaye notably shared a deleted scene from The Idol that sees his character call the outlet “irrelevant.” The post has since been deleted.)

    As The Idol aired, more negative press rolled in. GQ said The Idol gave viewers “the worst sex scene in history,” and described Tesfaye’s performance as one with “all the energy and sexual enticement of Gollum scurrying for a fish.” The Guardian said Tesfaye ought to “be tried at The Hague” for his performance, alongside the “limp, glazed-over, chain-smoking nothingness of Lily-Rose Depp.”

    The Idol received only 19 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

    So perhaps it’s no surprise that HBO chose to let The Idol go, even with Euphoria creator Levinson and superstar Tesfaye at the helm.

    On social media, many The Idol viewers are already grieving the loss of their latest hate-watch.

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    The first and only season of The Idol concluded in July and is available to stream on HBO Max, if you dare.

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    &copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

    Sarah Do Couto

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  • ‘The Idol’ Canceled After One Controversial Season

    ‘The Idol’ Canceled After One Controversial Season

    The Idol only ran on HBO for five episodes. (The show was originally greenlit for a six-episode run, but during an extensive reworking of the series during production, it was trimmed down to five.) Maybe given its reception and subject matter, that’s for the better.

    The show starred Lily-Rose Depp and Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd. The show’s plot centers around Depp’s character, Jocelyn, a pop star who grows increasingly enmeshed with Tesfaye’s character, Tedros. Jocelyn had suffered a nervous breakdown and is trying to put her struggling music career back together. Tedros owns a nightclub and appears to be a powerful man in the industry. Eventually, it becomes clear that he’s also a cult leader and an extremely dangerous presence.

    Sam Levinson, creator of the HBO teen drama Euphoria, and Tesfaye worked together to cook this series up, and it definitely has that feel. Unfortunately, critics also point out that it’s almost unnecessarily dark. Some felt it didn’t really do a great job satirizing the industry it’s trying to exploit; that instead it was just as mean-spirited as the world it was trying to depict.

    READ MORE: Everything Coming to Streaming on Max Next Month

    After a first season filled with controversy — and rumors earlier this summer that the show would not return for a second season, which HBO denied at the time — the series is now officially done. Here was a channel spokesman’s comment on the news:

    The Idol was one of HBO’s most provocative original programs, and we’re pleased by the strong audience response. After much thought and consideration, HBO, as well as the creators and producers have decided not to move forward with a second season. We’re grateful to the creators, cast, and crew for their incredible work.

    Additionally, it seems that some of the people behind the show had mixed understandings of what was intended from the start. Moses Sumney thought it was a limited series, while Da’Vine Joy Randolph had assumed there would definitely be a second season. The show sits at 19 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

    10 Popular TV Shows That Were Almost Cancelled Too Soon

    Cody Mcintosh

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  • ‘The Idol’ Is Officially Dead After a Single Bank-Breaking Season

    ‘The Idol’ Is Officially Dead After a Single Bank-Breaking Season

    Consider Jocelyn’s days of world-class sinning to be no longer. A second season of HBO’s The Idol starring The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp as power tripping pop figures, is officially dead at HBO, the network confirmed to Vanity Fair on Monday.

    “The Idol was one of HBO’s most provocative original programs, and we’re pleased by the strong audience response,” the network said in a statement. “After much thought and consideration, HBO, as well as the creators and producers have decided not to move forward with a second season. We’re grateful to the creators, cast, and crew for their incredible work.”

    The Sam Levinson-created series, which courted controversy for its sex cult subject matter and alleged behind-the-scenes drama, yielded just five episodes. It came with a reported $54 million–$75 million price tag, undoubtedly making it one of TV’s more expensive experiments. Although ratings didn’t exactly soar and critics largely shrugged, search interest for The Idol spiked by 1,134% after its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, according to a report of Google Search data by JeffBet. Research conducted by Parrot Analytics and reported by the Los Angeles Times found that audience demand for the show was more than 20 times higher than the demand for the average series. “Traditional ratings have been dismal, which suggests that people are more interested in posting about how bad The Idol is than they are in actually watching it,” wrote the LA Times.

    And yet, the show could never outpace the negative buzz surrounding it. As Jane Adams, who played label executive Nikki Katz on the series, told VF, “What is amazing to me is no one’s listening—I’ve not seen that before in all my days, such a dogged ‘We refuse to change the narrative,’” she said. “I especially want to say to all the feminists, ‘Go fuck yourself.’ All these women that I’m working with are talking about their experience and you’re not listening. You’re not listening!”

    Page Six reported on June 15 that The Weeknd, who described the series as a “five-hour film,” was not expected to move forward with a second season due in part to his alleged “egomaniacal” behavior on set. HBO denied the report the same day, tweeting, “It is being misreported that a decision on a second season of The Idol has been determined. It has not, and we look forward to sharing the next episode with you Sunday night.” However, the episode count shrunk from six to five as a result of a creative retooling, with a source telling TVLine: “The season ended up being five episodes when it was all said and done after Sam took over and made significant changes. The story only ended up requiring five.”

    Savannah Walsh

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  • Addison Rae Parodies Pop to Perfection on AR

    Addison Rae Parodies Pop to Perfection on AR

    Coming across like The Idol’s Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) meets Vox Lux’s Celeste (Natalie Portman), Addison Rae has outdone what it means to do a “sendup” of the pop star. That much has been made clear after she finally unleashed an EP of her previously unreleased songs, called simply: AR (in honor of her initials, obvs). The five-track offering gets right into what Rae is all about—putting the word tart in “pop tart”—with “I Got It Bad.”

    Produced by OzGo and Rami, perhaps Rae chose to avoid involving her own producer boyfriend, Omer Fedi, on the project because the song is probably about him. Complete with details like, “He looks like the boy next door from my boy band poster/But he drives like a maniac in his black Range Rover/He got me close, but now it’s official.” Elsewhere, she speaks to what Usher once did on “U Got It Bad” by demanding, “Take off every piece of me/Until there’s only skin on my body/He’s what I want, I could just cry/He’s what I want, give me more time.” Yep, Rae has no trouble emulating the “World Class Sinner” vibes of the aforementioned Jocelyn (“You can pull my hair/Touch me anywhere,” etc.). She even looks vaguely like Jocelyn (meets Keira Knightley) on the cover of the album, which features her blowing her pink bubblegum for a touch of “ironic” flair that alludes to this particular brand of bubblegum pop. Still often maligned and underestimated for its influence on the culture. 

    And, talking of influence on the culture, Charli XCX makes a cameo on the next song, “2 Die 4 (no, it’s not a remake of Tove Lo’s song of the same name, itself a sample of Hot Butter’s “Popcorn”—and actually OzGo produced it, too). Considering this is the girl who made a song called “Obsessed,” lyrics like, “My neck, to die for/My legs, to die for/This ah-ah sex, to die for/I-I-I want someone who thinks I’m to die—” should come as no surprise. Nor should the continued braggadocio manifest in, “My taste, to die for/My waist, to die for/This boom-boom bass, to die for/I-I-I want someone who thinks I’m to diе for.” In short, she’s saying what Carrie Bradshaw did when she told Aleksandr Petrovsky, “I am someone who is looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can’t-live-without-each-other love.” Except that it’s done with her more narcissistic Gen Z flourish, admitting, essentially, that she wants someone who’s obsessed with her. Every mundane, potentially plastic aspect of her. 

    By now it should be clear that AR is very similar to what Kim Petras tried and failed to do with the egregious Slut Pop. In the same fashion, Rae is essentially parodying what pop music is but still churning out the kind of earworms that people can’t resist. As well as earworms they would never expect. This includes Rae’s decision to cover an unreleased Lady Gaga song called “Nothing On (But the Radio),” which “Stefani Germanotta” originally composed in 2007 with Billy Steinberg and Josh Alexander. And though ill-informed Gen Z probably wouldn’t know it, the song is of course a reference to Marilyn Monroe responding to the media’s question, “Is it true that when you posed for that famous calendar photograph, Miss Monroe, you had nothing on?” She quipped, “No. I had the radio on.” 

    In this modern era, there’s, needless to say, no big scandal about women being in various states of undress. In fact, it’s expected if she wants to hold on to her fame. And as Rae does an almost better imitation of Gaga than Gaga does of Madonna, it’s clear that AR is all about stylization. Like a drag queen exaggerating all the tropes and cliches about women, Rae does the same with pop music. Complete with the obsequious sex kitten act apparent in the promises, “I’m calling just to tell you/Get here, I’ll make it all worth your while/I can make you some food [because the way to a man’s heart is still through his stomach, right?]/I know you’ll be wearin’ a smile/‘Cause I’ve got nothing on, but the radio.”

    More Olivia Rodrigo-oriented than the rest, “It Could’ve Been U” has that pop-punk sort of bent as Rae taunts a good-for-nothing ex who treated her badly one too many times. Detailing how she used to break down with each of their break-ups, she finally decides, “Now I don’t wanna make up, I’ll make out/With somebody new, it could’ve been you/‘Cause every time we’d fuck up, I’d freak out/You’re out of second chances, now I’m out/With somebody new, it could’ve been you/It could’ve been, it could’ve been you.” Alas, whoever he was seemed to be busy assuming that being straight man made him untouchable on the behavior front. But Rae boasts about how she’s someone who is far superior, describing, “He’ll take me to places I wanna go/Introduce me to people I wanna know/And you might be there, but I wouldn’t know/I used to miss you, now I don’t.” Of course, she’ll probably end up writing a “vampire”-esque song about this dude, too. For what are consistently disappointing men for if not inspirations for pop songs by women? 

    They’re also for reminding that this is a man’s world, but it wouldn’t be nothin’ without a woman or a girl. And so, to close out the roughly eleven-minute odyssey of what it means to emulate all the “pop bitches” who came before her is “Obsessed” (Mariah Carey probably refuses to acknowledge that anyone else has a song called this). Originally released in 2021, Rae is at her most Selena Gomez-sounding on this (hopefully) tongue-in-cheek, grandiloquent single that says so much about a generation raised on social media (with Rae herself transitioning from being a “social media star” to a pop one). For everyone has become more than a little obsessed with themselves, which makes it a bit harder to find a subset of people to be the obsessors (though Taylor Swift doesn’t have a problem with that).

    Regardless, Rae has decided, “And if I lost you, I’d still have me, I can’t lose/When you say that you’re obsessed with me, me too.” The only problem is, with everyone so busy being obsessed with themselves, it doesn’t leave much room for noticing that “parodying” self-obsession (and pop, for that matter) has become much too serious.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Rachel Sennott’s Best Movie and TV Roles, From “The Idol” to “Bottoms”

    Rachel Sennott’s Best Movie and TV Roles, From “The Idol” to “Bottoms”

    In her short career, Rachel Sennott has already done it all. She has dabbled in comedy, written and produced feature films, and starred in several projects, including movies and TV shows. After graduating from NYU’s esteemed Tisch School of the Arts (known for its extensive pool of celebrity alums ranging from Martin Scorsese to Adam Sandler), Sennott began doing comedy performances at open mic nights, which led to her doing her own shows online like “Puke Fest” and “Ur Gonna Slp Rlly Well Tonight.”

    “I like juggling multiple projects,” Sennott told Forbes in 2020 about balancing comedy and her movie and television projects. “It makes me feel less stuck. If I am frustrated in one area, I can always push myself in another.”

    The success of Sennott’s comedy opened up opportunities for her to act in larger-scale television shows and movies, including an episode of HBO’s “High Maintenance” in 2018. From there, she starred in and produced the 2020 film “Shiva Baby.” Most recently, Sennott starred as Leia in HBO’s sultry and controversial series “The Idol,” alongside Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd. She also stars alongside Ayo Edebiri in “Bottoms,” which they also co-wrote together and which hits theaters in August.

    And fans can expect to see a lot more from Sennott in the future, as she’s slated to star in several upcoming projects, including “Holland, Michigan,” a thriller starring Nicole Kidman and Matthew Macfadyen that was greenlit in 2022, per Deadline.

    If you are curious about Sennott’s other works, check out some of these movies and TV shows!

    “The Idol”

    HBO

    Sam Levinson’s “The Idol” follows aspiring pop star Jocelyn, who gets caught up in the gritty entertainment world as she works to get to the top with the help of guru/cult leader Tedros. In the series, Sennott stars as Leia, Jocelyn’s best friend and assistant who tries to keep her grounded and focused despite the pressures and distractions of being in the spotlight.

    “Bodies Bodies Bodies”

    BODIES BODIES BODIES, from left: Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, 2022. ph: Erik Chakeen / A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection
    HBO

    Image Source: Everett Collection

    A24’s 2022 film “Bodies Bodies Bodies” follows a group of young friends as a night of partying goes awry at a remote mansion. When they all play a game in which someone is labeled a murderer and the rest of the group must find out who it is, an actual murder occurs, leaving the friends scrambling to survive and figure out who the real killer is. Senott plays the role of Alice, a podcast host, in the film.

    “Ayo and Rachel Are Single”

    Sennott joined actor/comedian Edebiri (“The Bear,” “Big Mouth”) in Comedy Central’s 2020 scripted digital series, “Ayo and Rachel Are Single,” which centers around the complex and often comedic world of dating in the modern age. The three episodes are each approximately five minutes long and cover topics like double dating and ghosting.

    “Tahara”

    “Tahara” is a 2020 coming-of-age story that centers around best friends Hannah Rosen (Sennott) and Carrie Lowstein, who kiss for the first time at a friend’s funeral. Though the timing is perhaps not the greatest, the two comfort each other as they grieve the loss of their friend and learn more about themselves, including their love for one another and their sexuality as a whole.

    “Shiva Baby”

    SHIVA BABY, Rachel Sennott, 2020. Utopia / Courtesy Everett Collection
    HBO

    Image Source: Everett Collection

    Originally made by filmmaker Emma Seligman as a short film thesis for NYU in 2018, “Shiva Baby” became a feature film in 2020 and stars Sennott as Danielle, who tries to navigate attending a shiva with her family, ex-girlfriend, and sugar daddy, among others. Throughout the shiva, Danielle is forced to confront aspects of her life that make her uncomfortable, including her identity, sexuality, and purpose.

    “Call Your Mother”

    In this 2021 ABC sitcom, mom Jean Raines (Kyra Sedgwick) isn’t handling being an empty nester well. To get closer to her kids again, she moves from Iowa to California, which turns out to be an interesting experience for all involved. Sennott plays the role of Jackie Raines, Jean’s eldest daughter.

    “I Used to Be Funny”

    Sennott stars as a young comedian named Sam living in Toronto in this mystery-thriller. Struggling with depression after a girl she babysat goes missing, Sam is eventually forced to figure out how to pull herself out of her slump. The movie premiered at South by Southwest in 2023.

    “Bottoms”

    In this upcoming comedy, PJ (Sennott) and Josie (Edebiri) are high school students determined to finally have sex before graduation. To help achieve their goal, they start a “fight club” to hook up with cheerleaders before the big day. Co-starring Kaia Gerber, “Bottoms” hits theaters everywhere on Aug. 25, 2023.

    Alicia Geigel

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  • Unfortunately, I Finished Watching The Idol

    Unfortunately, I Finished Watching The Idol

    I mentioned in my last article about
    The Idol that I felt this sick curiosity as a writer to watch the show. If you didn’t gather from my review of episodes 1-3, I was quickly reminded why sometimes you need to listen to the general public. Sam Levinson and The Weeknd’s Max original is something of a car wreck, and (SPOILER ALERT!) episodes 4 and 5 are much worse, for different reasons.

    Sure the final two episodes of what should’ve been a 6-episode series had much less focus on sex and nudity…but I quickly learned –
    at what cost? I took two full pages of notes while watching, so I’ll include some of my candid, raw reactions. But, the show turned sickeningly unbearable. I’m borderline offended by it?

    I mean, with cast members like Jane Adams telling the feminists (I guess me in this circumstance) to
    “go f*** yourself,” I can imagine the feeling is quite mutual at this rate. Poor, misunderstood Sam Levinson created a show so artistically advanced that the entire world didn’t understand it! Ever wonder if it was just bad and that’s why people don’t get it?

    Whatever. Back by popular demand, here are all my thoughts while watching the final two episodes of The Idol. Pray for me, and you’re welcome.

    The Idol, Episode 4 Recap

    We see that Tedros (The Weeknd, Abel Tesfaye, I don’t know anymore) has completely taken over Jocelyn’s estate. However, good news! The team is
    officially convinced that he’s up to no good. Hallelujah, surely they’ll do nothing.

    They even approach Joss and say his real name is Mauricio Jackson and he was charged for kidnapping his ex, holding her hostage, and beating her. I know, pretend you’re shocked that the guy with the rat tail did this. Anyways, Joss ignores feminism entirely and says he’s simply misunderstood. Aren’t we all?

    Seriously, the most infuriating part about the show is that no one has a backbone. More on that later.

    So one of Joss’ team goes to one of Tedros’ minions, Chloe, who has a wonderful singing voice. The catch? Tedros found her while she was addicted to heroin and she claims she’s 18, but we all know the truth there.

    They’re all at Joss’ mansion to record music together, but
    naturally Joss’ track is missing something. So, in front of an entire crowd of record executives and this cult, Tedros starts to — I can’t bring myself to write it but just know he performs a sexual act on her. To which her agent says on the phone, “Jocelyn is on some weird S&M shit with this dude,” the only honest musing in the show.

    So let’s get to the point, what everyone’s talking about: Troye Sivan’s torture scene. Troye is obviously a great singer, so The Weeknd hides in his room while he showers and sings to himself and asks why he claims he tore his vocal chords. Dumb Troye’s character, Xander, decides to
    tell the truth (???) and say Jocelyn was basically jealous and her mom outed him and he never sang again.

    What’s the only viable option that happens here? The Weeknd tells Jocelyn and they start shocking him despite his pleas for help. But the main point of the episode is only to tell you that everyone is spiraling.

    The Idol, Episode 5 Recap

    At the end of episode 4, JENNIE from BLACKPINK shows up to Jocelyn’s and Chloe, on molly, spills that Tedros and JENNIE, who just stole “World Class Sinner” from Joss, were an item. Essentially, this is us learning Tedros was trying to infringe on Joss’ fame the whole time.

    Big whoop, if that weren’t clear from episode one then I don’t know what to say. Literally
    he has a rat tail and you’re supposed to be shocked that he was using her?!! So episode 5 starts with Jocelyn trying to kick Tedros out of the house and keep his artists.

    This was like the one moment of the show where I ever felt proud or anything other than immense, overwhelming hatred for every character. But I knew, deep down in the depths of my soul, they were going to let me down.

    If you strip down the bad acting, this show is pure comedy. It’s like The Office but what’s funnier is that Sam Levinson and The Weeknd meant for this show to be serious.

    But what’s even better is that it takes five minutes for Tedros to insert his ugly tail back in the picture. At the party the night before, Jocelyn proceeds to invite her ex over to make Tedros jealous and obviously the natural reaction is for Tedros to frame him for sexual assault.

    Of course this is handled in an offensive, not even funny or ironic matter. No one tells Jocelyn this, but the assistant goes to Xander and asks if she knows what’s happening. To which newly brainwashed Xander said
    of course Joss knows. Because evil, evil Joss loves covering up sexual assault?

    So this begins the downfall of Tedros. The agents get him, something about the IRS, there’s a speech about hunting the Big Bad Wolf, Josselyn saves her tour, and the final scene is at So-Fi Stadium, where Tedros’ people are her opening act alongside Xander and Tedro’s minions. Joss’ team is cackling about how they ended him.

    Mauricio Jackson is then let into the stadium with an artist pass for Jocelyn, which makes no sense considering she’s the technical reason he was exposed. Tedros goes backstage and picks up the hair brush her mother beat her with and realizes it’s brand new.

    What they want you to think is that Josselyn was the manipulator all along- stealing Tedros’ people and making him think he’s all that just to whittle him back down to broke ass Mauricio Jackson. JENNIE also couldn’t record “World Class Sinner”, so Joss keeps that, too. She’s the evil of the show, not Tedros, he was just a victim.

    @drophiltv2023#selenagomez#theweeknd#theidol#parati#paratii#paratiii#paratitiktok#fyp#foryou♬ original sound – Culture

    I have to laugh. Truly. Because of the flippant ways they throw sexual assault and victim’s stories around, and because of the way they treat consent, and also because the writing was so awful that the show was doomed from the beginning. And to think these pompous actors are defending this train wreck and calling for a season two?

    Gaslighting is when people make you think The Idol is good and you just “didn’t understand it.” Honesty is realizing this show is vile down to its core.

    Jai Phillips

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  • Is ‘The Idol’ Season 2 Even Possible? And Does Anyone Want It?

    Is ‘The Idol’ Season 2 Even Possible? And Does Anyone Want It?

    This post contains spoilers for The Idol.

    The first trailer for HBO’s The Idol landed nearly a year ago, promising a warped fairy tale of a mainstream pop star entrapped in a sex cult. In telling “the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood,” from “the sick & twisted minds” of The Weeknd and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, the teaser promised provocation, titillation, and an examination of the machinery behind it all. During the protracted lead-up to the show’s debut, HBO released edgy promotional footage, and Rolling Stone published a report detailing alleged behind-the-scenes issues, reportedly stemming from a creative overhaul and the exit of the series’ original director, Amy Seimetz, who was replaced by Levinson. In statements to Vanity Fair, HBO and star Lily-Rose Depp denied allegations of tensions on set. For his part, The Weeknd shared what appeared to be a clip from the show featuring himself, Depp, and costar Dan Levy, in which his character, Tedros, said, “Yeah, nobody cares about Rolling Stone,” with the singer captioning his post, “@RollingStone did we upset you?”

    Alas, that scene never made it into the final cut of the show, one of many red herrings and unresolved plot points that seem less an incentive for a second season and more a result of misguided storytelling. Instead, viewers were treated to an abrupt role reversal that saw Depp’s Jocelyn reclaim the reins to her life from the ultimately powerless Tedros, despite what all conventional and studied wisdom about cult deprogramming suggests. Also missing from the finale were the promised backstory of Tedros’s now infamous rattail haircut and the resolution regarding that sexually explicit photo of Depp’s Jocelyn that seemed so vital in the premiere episode.

    Despite The Idol’s prerelease noise, its first episode held some potential, particularly in its commentary on show business via Jocelyn’s inner circle, played by Levy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Eli Roth, Hari Nef, Jane Adams, Rachel Sennott, and Hank Azaria. Viewed in its best light, the series felt as if it could be a warped cousin to Max’s The Other Two, which lambasted the entertainment industry for three seasons. In The Idol’s debut, an intimacy coordinator gets locked in a closet so that Jocelyn can strip in peace; in The Other Two, it’s a COVID-safety official who gets trapped so that the show can go on.

    The series inherited the HBO Sunday night slot recently occupied by the likes of The Last of Us and Succession. That high profile, and a healthy dose of curiosity, lured more than 3.6 million viewers across HBO and Max in the show’s first week, but the ratings dropped precipitously over the course of the season; the penultimate episode reportedly hooked only 133,000 viewers on HBO.

    Numbers for the unsatisfying season finale have yet to be released (Vanity Fair has reached out to HBO for information), but is there any metric—ratings or otherwise—by which The Idol ever truly succeeded?

    Given The Idol’s reported $54 million–$75 million price tag, the show’s makers have understandably been on the defensive since its debut.

    Supporting cast members were deployed to address lingering questions. In a Today appearance, Azaria said claims about the alleged “chaotic nature of the set and how it was really haphazard…[are] ridiculous.” Randolph even kept the dream of a second season alive, telling Variety: “I think that everyone’s intention is to have a second season. This was never intended to be a limited series. HBO has been very happy with it.” And Adams expressed outrage over the outrage, telling VF, “What is amazing to me is no one’s listening—I’ve not seen that before in all my days, such a dogged ‘We refuse to change the narrative,’” she said. “I especially want to say to all the feminists, ‘Go fuck yourself.’ All these women that I’m working with are talking about their experience and you’re not listening. You’re not listening!”

    After an intimate moment between Tedros and Jocelyn was deemed “the worst sex scene in history” by British GQ, The Weeknd granted an interview to American GQ, insisting that there was “nothing sexy” about the scene and that any secondhand cringe was intentional. “However you’re feeling watching that scene, whether it’s discomfort, or you feel gross, or you feel embarrassed for the characters, it’s all those emotions adding up to: This guy is in way over his head, this situation is one where he is not supposed to be here,” the actor said.

    The Weeknd has also been active on social media throughout the season—often posting memes, retweeting fan accounts, and clapping back at haters. And there has been a lot of online chatter. Search interest for The Idol soared by 1,134% after its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, according to a report of Google Search data by JeffBet. Research conducted by Parrot Analytics and reported by the Los Angeles Times found that audience demand for the show was more than 20 times higher than the demand for the average series. “Traditional ratings have been dismal, which suggests that people are more interested in posting about how bad The Idol is than they are in actually watching it,” wrote the LA Times. Anecdotally speaking, a post-episode search on Twitter will find engagement, yes, but mostly of the negative variety, save for the ardent stan support of Blackpink’s Jennie Ruby Jane, who plays the largely thankless role of wannabe pop star Dyanne.

    Eddy Chen

    Savannah Walsh

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  • The Weeknd’s Pronunciation of “Carte Blanche” on “The Idol” Is the Internet’s Latest Fascination

    The Weeknd’s Pronunciation of “Carte Blanche” on “The Idol” Is the Internet’s Latest Fascination

    Evidently, even the words are different in “The Idol” multiverse. After episode four of “The Idol” debuted on June 25, fans were ripped away from the saga of Jocelyn’s chaotic music career at the sound of two unfamiliar words: “carte blanche.” In the scene, The Weeknd’s rattail-wearing lead, Tedros, brought a little additional flair to each syllable, pronouncing the word “cart-ay blanch-ay,” amusing viewers everywhere in the process. “Worth watching the idol for the weeknd’s inventive pronunciation of ‘carte blanche’ alone,” one Twitter user wrote. Another person agreed, tweeting that they were “forever haunted” by the creative elocution.

    As amusing as the initial moment was to witness, many were quick to point out that the mix-up was more than likely a purposeful character choice made to emphasize Tedros’s false sense of grandeur. “I’m not on record as the biggest fan of THE IDOL, but pretending the mispronunciation of ‘carte blanche’ is a technical goof rather than a deliberate character-based joke is maybe not the angle you want to be taking,” one Twitter user wrote in defense. And to their point, even The Weeknd has made it abundantly clear that he is not his character.

    “He’s despicable, a psychopath — why sugarcoat it?” The Weeknd said about Tedros in a June 14 Billboard interview published after episode two’s controversial sex scene. “We did that on purpose with his look, his outfits, his hair — this guy’s a douchebag,” he continued. “He cares so much about what he looks like, and he thinks he looks good. But then you see these weird moments of him alone — he rehearses, he’s calculated. And he needs to do that, or he has nothing, he’s pathetic. Which is true of a lot of people who are a fish out of water, put into these scenarios.”

    But the question still remains: what exactly was cart-ay blanch-ay meant to prove? Does “The Idol” really want us to see Tedros in a pathetic light, the way they claim? And if so, why allow Tedros to give a brief lesson about the Latin origins of the word “family” in the very same episode? Perhaps some things are just better left unsaid.

    Chandler Plante

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  • All Of My Thoughts While Watching The Idol

    All Of My Thoughts While Watching The Idol

    As a writer, there are times when you almost feel morally obligated to complete a task that no one else wants to do. In this case, I fed the inexplicable, dark need within the depths of my soul to watch Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s show on Max,
    The Idol.

    The Idol has quickly become the internet’s most talked about television show for all the wrong reasons. It’s not the fan fervor that followed other Max shows like White Lotus or Succession. It’s morbid curiosity at best.

    Following its debut at
    Cannes Film Festival, no one has been able to stop talking about its insanity: unnecessary vulgar sex scenes, a plot that was filled with holes and questions, and a debate about whether it’s a product of bad acting or bad writing…or both.

    But are we really shocked that
    Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, known for his borderline concerning references to sex and violence in his shows — who argued with actress Barbie Ferreira over character Kat’s storyline and caused her eventually to leave the show, who had multiple actresses express discomfort in the amount of nudity, who had no writers room — created this disaster?

    The Drama Surrounding The Idol

    Originally, this catastrophe was directed by Amy Seimetz who left when most of the series was finished. With HBO citing a major creative overhaul, reports swirled elsewhere that The Weeknd was unhappy with the female direction the show was taking. Out with female directors, in with resident evil Sam Levinson.

    Not only did this cost the show around $70 million, it also caused delays. Levinson then peppered in his signature overseasoning of sex to really mess the whole thing up. It started with reports saying the show had more sex than even
    Euphoria, which broke boundaries being a show following hyper-sexual teenagers. In a tell-all expose, Rolling Stone reported:

    “Four sources say that Levinson ultimately scrapped Seimetz’s approach to the story, 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 that some crew members describe as being offensive.”

    Levinson was absent from the set early on, says
    Rolling Stone, devoting most of his time to the Emmy-award-winning Euphoria. Subsequently, this gave Tesfaye free reign. The show “drastically changed” from the original Seimetz version to something more…of a joke.

    So I Watched The Idol Myself

    Needless to say, the scathing reviews and meme-worthy clips I’d seen on my social media were not enough to keep me away. The show had an absurd premiere week, with over 900,000 viewers, surpassing Max’s biggest shows:
    Euphoria and White Lotus. My sick curiosity killed the cat.

    It’s every bit as terrible as expected, despite a star-studded cast of The Weeknd, BLACKPINK’s Jennie, Troye Sivan, and Lily-Rose Depp, who plays popstar Jocelyn. Jocelyn, who is known in public for her scandals and mental breakdowns, falls under the spell of The Weeknd’s Tedros. That’s about all I know for sure.

    Tedros is supposedly the leader of a cult, but you wouldn’t get that from episode one…which fails to reach many points other than Jocelyn wanting to expose herself on the cover of her album. Jocelyn attends a club (sans security because that would make too much sense) and meets Tedros (who unfortunately has a rat tail) and is instantly
    enamored.

    This is all the proof I need that Jocelyn has no real friends. If Tedros approached
    me at a club, my friends would already have tackled him linebacker-style before we could say hello. No shot.

    But the reviews don’t lie, there’s too much sex. It’s all about sex. There are constant lewd references, vulgar, NSFW dialogue, and full-frontal nudity. I can’t even take the show seriously because I spend half of it fast-forwarding through sex scenes.

    I understand that they are trying to convey that Lily-Rose Depp’s character is vulnerable and clearly lacking any sort of creative direction…but they spend 30 minutes on each scene. Surely there’s a better way to speed up the plot?

    I cringe every time The Weeknd comes on screen, partly because I know there is some sort of sexual act about to occur and also because I can’t imagine letting his creature of a character within 50 yards of me at any point in my life.

    Overall, it’s horrid. I can’t even tell you it’s worth the watch because I struggled to get through three episodes and my roommate got mad at me for making her watch with me. In short, if you watch
    The Idol, your friends will like you less.

    Jai Phillips

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  • TV Intimacy Coordinator Analyzes ‘The Idol”s Premiere Episode, Says It Depicts ‘Accurate Pushback’ On Set But ‘Felt Betrayed They Made Fun Of Us’ 

    TV Intimacy Coordinator Analyzes ‘The Idol”s Premiere Episode, Says It Depicts ‘Accurate Pushback’ On Set But ‘Felt Betrayed They Made Fun Of Us’ 

    By Melissa Romualdi.
    Published:

    Ever since “The Idol” premiered earlier this month, there’s been much critique about its sexual material, including a scene in the premiere episode where pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) decides to flash her nipples during a photoshoot, despite the nudity rider in her contract.

    In the scene, her intimacy coordinator (played by Scott Turner Schofield) immediately interrupts the shoot for her album cover and reminds the photographer (Eddy Chen) about the nudity rider, which only permits Jocelyn to show her “side-boob, under-boob and side flank.” He emphasizes that the contract has been reviewed by “the label and her people,” and that any changes require the photo session to be delayed 48 hours, even though Jocelyn took it upon herself to expose her breasts.


    READ MORE:
    HBO Denies ‘The Idol’ Season 2 Cancellation Reports Amid Backlash: ‘It Hasn’t Been Determined’

    She asks the coordinator, “I’m not allowed to show my body?”, who then responds, “Not in the general human rights structure of it all.”

    Then, Jocelyn’s manager Chaim (Hank Azaria) gets involved — he shoves the coordinator behind a door and pays a random passerby $5,000 to keep him locked in the bathroom until the shoot is over.

    While the scene depicts a fictional coordinator, the information about the structure surrounding intimacy coordination wasn’t necessarily inaccurate, as per a real-life intimacy coordinator named Marci Liroff — with no connection to “The Idol” — who evaluated the scene for Variety. 

    “To be honest, I had a very visceral reaction. I was appalled,” Liroff — whose credits as an intimacy coordinator include “Hightown”, “From Scratch”, and “This Is Us” — told the outlet.

    “I’m not alone in this, in terms of my intimacy coordinator communities: We look at HBO as our stalwart home, so to speak, because their work with Alicia Rodis was so good that they made it mandatory that all projects on HBO [featuring sexually intimate scenes] must hire in an intimacy coordinator,” she said, referring to the first-ever intimacy coordinator who was hired for a major U.S. production — “The Deuce” — in 2018. “It set a standard, and many other streamers and networks have followed along. So I felt really betrayed that they were making fun of us and the job. They were using us as the butt of the joke.”

    However, intimacy coordination is still a relatively new field and, despite “The Idol”‘s “heightened” depiction of it, it somewhat resonates with Liroff.


    READ MORE:
    The Weeknd Responds To Backlash Surrounding That Graphic ‘The Idol’ Sex Scene

    “I have been in some situations where there’s a lot of pushback from a director or producer who doesn’t quite understand what we bring to a set,” she said. “Our position is very similar to a stunt coordinator, and you would never do some of the stuff that [has been done to me] to a stunt coordinator. So I sat with it and I realized that this actually was a very accurate — although heightened and extreme — depiction of some of the crazy pushback that I’ve experienced.”

    Liroff then broke down intimacy coordinators’ job, beginning with conducting meetings with the people in charge of a project.

    “In this case, probably the photographer and her manager to find out what they’re looking for,” she said of the series, which also stars The Weeknd. “I’d drill down and get very specific about what body points we are going to be seeing.”

    After that, a one-on-one meeting occurs between the intimacy coordinator and the performer to determine what the talent is comfortable with. If their boundaries don’t align with a director’s requests, further meetings take place until a solution is reached in the talent’s best interest, to which a nudity rider is put in writing and signed. If a change is made to the rider, a 48-hour delay in production is required to avoid putting the performer on the spot with the new request, ultimately  preventing them from reconsidering their boundaries on set.

    In the episode, it’s clear that Jocelyn did not meet with the intimacy coordinator before the shoot.

    “I have a feeling that Jocelyn’s team looked this over and spoke for her,” Liroff said, noting that this often happens in real life. “There are many times when I’ll be in a situation where I need to speak directly to the talent, and let’s say they’re very high-level talent, and I never actually get to speak specifically to that person, which is really a shame.”


    READ MORE:
    ‘The Idol’ Viewers Slam Controversial New Show After The Weeknd Admits ‘It’s Not Going To Be For Everybody’

    While Liroff isn’t sure how she feels about the handling of “The Idol”‘s explicit content, one thing’s for sure — Depp certainly gave the creators her consent.

    “People are talking about how exploited Lily-Rose Depp is, but I’ve also watched and read several interviews with her, and what is very clear to me is that she is 1,000% on board with this,” she said. “This is not some young, helpless actress that comes from middle America, shows up in Hollywood and is completely taken advantage of.”

    Liroff adds that, behind-the-scenes, Depp’s feelings aren’t the only ones that were considered.

    “We have a nudity rider in place not only for the performer. It’s also for the crew,” she explained. “The crew needs a head’s up on what they’re going to be experiencing that day. They need to know if they’re seeing, for instance, a very violent rape scene. A scene that is very sensitive could be triggering, not just for the performers, but for the people that are watching it from 10 different angles… It’s the crew giving their general consent to witness this.”

    Liroff concluded by pointing out that “this job is very nuanced and complex. It’s very hard to explain, in one scene, what we do.

    “And that scene used us as the butt of a joke, at the end of the day.”

    Melissa Romualdi

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  • Madonna Taps Into The Sentiments of Her Pre-Fame Drive on “Popular” With The Weeknd and Playboi Carti

    Madonna Taps Into The Sentiments of Her Pre-Fame Drive on “Popular” With The Weeknd and Playboi Carti

    Like Madonna’s 2018 collaboration with Quavo and Cardi B on “Champagne Rosé,” “Popular” marks another unexpected trifecta in terms of musical partnerships for the Queen of Pop. And yet, as also indicated by “Champagne Rosé,” it’s clear Madonna wants to be more involved in the genre of music that tends to outshine pop in the present landscape. Because, save for Taylor Swift, it’s difficult for people to get “excited” about pop music anymore. Certainly not the way they once did when Madonna first rose to fame in the early 80s. Indeed, it’s easy to say that Madonna invented pop as we know it, itself a diminutive of popular. Which brings us back to the title of the song she’s featured on, along with Playboi Carti, by The Weeknd. As the second single from The Idol’s soundtrack, The Idol Vol. 1, it arrives just two days before the series’ official premiere on HBO. Those who have been following the drama of the series’ rollout are aware that it isn’t exactly “on-brand” with Madonna’s usual liberal-sanctioned philosophy vis-à-vis toxic masculinity. But the “brains” behind the show claim that parading toxic masculinity is the point. Or used to be before “it went from satire to the thing it was satirizing.”

    Unfortunately, speculation about the reshoots involved stem from how “the original version of the series…focused heavily on the ‘female perspective,’ which both The Weeknd and Levinson took issue with.” This was around the time writer-director Amy Seimetz bowed out of participating in The Idol when it was eighty percent finished. Who knows if that was before or after Madonna agreed to collaborate on a song for it (perhaps in part due to one of her go-to producers, Mike Dean, appearing on the show…in addition to co-producing “Popular” with Metro Boomin)? But either way, it’s clear that M might have been drawn to the story as a result of its own resonance with her pre-fame drive. And while, sure, everyone is making the automatic comparison between Lily-Rose Depp’s Jocelyn character and Britney Spears, the OG for fame hunger as a pop star will always be Madonna. As the now well-known lore goes, a nineteen-year-old college dropout Madonna moved to New York in 1977 with nothing more than thirty-five dollars in her pocket and a dream. She didn’t precisely know what shape the dream of being famous would take, but she knew it somehow involved “the arts.” Initially, she thought that meant being a dancer (not the topless kind, mind you), but soon realized that entailed blending in when all she wanted to do was stand out.

    Thus, her next foray into fame-seeking was being in a band…as the drummer. But it didn’t take her long to see that she was still in the background that way, too. She needed to be front and center. She needed to be a solo act. By 1982, she had betrayed many people along the way to get a record deal with Sire (Seymour Stein signed her while in a hospital bed, but Madonna couldn’t have cared less—she just wanted the contract, to make that Faustian pact, as it were). So if anyone can sing the lyrics to “Popular” (not to be confused with M.I.A.’s song of the same name) with conviction, it’s Lady M. After all, the chorus goes, “Beggin’ on her knees to be popular/That’s her dream, to be popular/Kill anyone to be popular/Sell her soul to be popular/Popular, just to be popular/Everybody scream ’cause she popular.” And everyone was screaming because Madonna was so popular by the time The Virgin Tour took hold of stages throughout the U.S. in 1985. In fact, no female artist until Madonna seemed to attract hordes that would scream so much. Before Madonna, such ardor was reserved solely for male bands and solo acts (see: Beatlemania). Hence, Madonna later reflecting on those “wannabes” as follows: “If I was a girl again, I would like to be like my fans, I would like to be like Madonna.”

    Britney certainly wanted to be like Madonna too, never hiding her love of Mother Pop Star as her career took off. It was in 2003 that the trio (a more logical trio than Madonna, The Weeknd and Playboi Carti) of M, Britney and Christina Aguilera took the MTV VMAs by storm when the Queen of Pop kissed both Princesses of Pop. But it was the beso with Britney that grabbed the most headlines, with splashy images of their kiss reprinted and replayed everywhere. Certain types might have likened it to some kind of “illuminati ritual,” while Madonna referred to it simply as symbolically “passing the baton” of pop stardom to a younger generation. And yet, Madonna would never “take a bow” regardless of such statements feigning that she’s “lost her influence” somehow. If anything, Madonna remains more relevant than ever in an era where the conversation about famous women aging while “refusing” to leave the spotlight has become, somehow, a hotbed issue. Enter the lyrics to the chorus that go, “She mainstream ’cause she popular/Never be free ’cause she popular.”

    But Madonna has never really wanted to be “free” from fame, despite recent posturings about family being her more valued focus. Because fame was always, whether she was fully aware of it or not, the only way she could fill the void where her mother’s love had been lost. Dead at the age of thirty, when Madonna was just five, the loss of Madonna Ciccone Sr. to breast cancer was one that the junior M would feel all her life. The type of black hole that would prompt a girl to seek out becoming the most beloved, famous woman in the world (until being beloved gave way to being constantly condemned). So when she opens “Popular” with the solemn lines, “I’ve seen the devil down Sunset/In every place, in every face,” she knows what she’s talking about.” Funnily enough, however, Madonna has never styled herself as much of a “Hollywood type.” Sure, like any famous person, she’s set up shop there via real estate (including her purchase of The Weeknd’s Hidden Hills property in 2021), but, by and large, she’s never really made it her home à la, say, Lana Del Rey.

    When she was first “initiated” into fame, she definitely spent more time drinking Hollywood’s Kool-Aid, complete with living in Malibu after marrying Sean Penn and taking a shine to L.A. life during her “movie star era” that consisted of dating Warren Beatty and being one of the leads in his 1990 comic adaptation, Dick Tracy. Yet Madonna seemed forever beholden to the opposite coast, constantly going back to it and eventually writing off Los Angeles as somewhere “for people who sleep.” Not to mention writing an entire song (called, what else, “Hollywood”) about the false seduction of the place formerly known as El Pueblo de Los Angeles. The Weeknd has expressed similar opinions in his music, including lyrics like, “This place is never what it seems…/Take me out of LA/This place will be the end of me.” This from a song entitled, appropriately, “Escape From LA.” Elsewhere on that After Hours track, The Weeknd also criticizes (despite insisting “I don’t criticize”), “LA girls all look the same/I can’t recognize/The same work done on their face.” On the same album, The Weeknd also declares on “Snowchild,” “Cali was the mission but now a nigga leaving” in relation to the epiphany that fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

    Madonna would explore that topic in detail on one of the first records of its kind, Ray of Light, particularly via the opening track, “Drowned World/Substitute For Love.” A song that began to bubble up after giving birth to her first child, Lourdes Leon, in 1996, at which time Madonna was suddenly in search of greater meaning in her life. Hence, turning to Kabbalah for spiritual comfort in her erstwhile material world. Eventually, Madonna would render Kabbalah into another trend as well, with many celebrities in the early 00s sporting the signature red string, from Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher to Angelina Jolie to none other than Britney Spears herself. This being one reason why Madonna chose to sardonically sport a “Cult Member” t-shirt while leaving the Kabbalah Center circa 2004 (L.A., to be sure, has just as many cult leaders doubling as members). For, after M and Brit performed together at the VMAs in ’03, the latter adopted the red string bracelet signifying her “Kabbalah commitment” as well, intended to ward off the “evil eye.” If that was the case, maybe Brit actually shouldn’t have taken it off so soon after declaring in 2006, “I no longer study Kabbalah. My baby is my religion.” Because it was 2007 when shit would really start to hit the fan for her. Indeed, that’s the period of Brit’s life that The Idol appears to be “inspired by,” with The Weeknd obviously playing the Sam Lutfi figure.

    Spears and Lutfi met at a nightclub at the end of 2007 and, fittingly, The Weeknd plays nightclub owner/“self-help guru” (a.k.a. cult leader) Tedros. Like Lutfi, Tedros seems to have a knack for “attaching himself to celebrities, often at vulnerable moments for them.” And no one was more vulnerable than late ’07 Britney (which is perhaps how Lutfi was allegedly able to feed her a steady cocktail of Risperdal and Seroquel). In this sense, Madonna stands out as a singular pop star for her strength and bulletproof nature, seemingly designed to endure media scrutiny and unremitting criticism without letting it get the better of her. As she says in her “Popular” verse, “I know that you see me, time’s gone by/Spend my whole life runnin’ from your flashin’ lights/Try to own it, but I’m alright/You can’t take my soul without a fuckin’ fight.”

    Madonna’s love of religious motifs in her lyrics continue with, “Put it in her veins, pray her soul to keep.” This fixation on praying and keeping one’s soul is also present on a song like 2015’s “Devil Pray,” during which Madonna sings, “But if you wanna save your soul/Then we should travel all together/And make the devil pray” and “Ooh, save my soul/Devil’s here to fool ya.” Devil imagery has also come up in Madonna’s recitation of the Book of Revelation on 1990’s “The Beast Within,” as well as 2008’s “Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You.” Her frequent lyrical ruminations on a battle between good and evil is clearly culled not just from her Catholic upbringing, but her extensive time spent in a world where carnal temptations are the name of the game. And not everyone is able to resist (on a pertinent note, Madonna has always been well-known for her abstinence…from drugs).

    At varying points in the trailer for The Idol, Tedros says things to Jocelyn like, “You’re the American dream. Rags to riches. Trailers to mansions” and “You’re not a human being. You’re a star.” Both of these sentiments more overtly apply to Spears (though Madonna didn’t exactly grow up in “baller” circumstances either) as she’s been turned into tabloid fodder in a manner that Madonna wasn’t—not to the same extent, anyway—in her early career. For she came up at a time when TMZ-level shaming had not yet become a phenomenon. Thus, back in late November of 2021, Spears wrote on her always cryptic Instagram, “I just shot a movie titled “THE IDOL”… it’s guaranteed to have hits and a lot [of] bright pics to put in my beautiful family’s faces!!!!!”

    Months later, Spears appeared in a photo with Levinson and The Weeknd. It hardly seemed a coincidence. Nor does it that Madonna is involved in the soundtrack. For not only can she speak to the kind of fiendishness for fame that “Popular” dissects, but she also witnessed Spears breaking down and breaking free (showing up to her wedding as an honored guest to support that revelation) in real time. So from whatever angle one looks at it, no one has a better view on this subject matter than Madonna. Thus, even if the show isn’t “brilliant,” at least Madonna “joining the cast” on “Popular” is.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • What’s Going On With Lily-Rose Depp?

    What’s Going On With Lily-Rose Depp?

    We’ve been talking a lot about It Girls this summer. There are Fashion It Girls like Bella Hadid and Zendaya. There are eternal empresses like Chloe Sevigny. And with the tornado-like trend-cycle permeating style and pop culture, cultural ephemera breeds icons like Sofia Richie for the quiet luxury crowd.

    And this summer, you simply can not talk about It Girls without talking about Lily-Rose Depp.

    Lily-Rose is a nepo baby (we’ll get to that later), so she already has the makings of classic It Girls like Paris and Nicole. And, as a true Gen Z muse, her Y2K-inspired vibe mirrors the women of the early-2000s. Like Paris, she’s never been shy about liking a party (what I wouldn’t give for an invite). Like Kate Moss, she’s a high fashion model by day with a “rockstar” edge.

    Take her stint at Cannes. She’s posing on the red carpet, then smoking a cig outside her hotel. Her French Girl coolness and Mama Vanessa Paradis’ model-inherited looks have served her well. So it’s no wonder she’s all the internet is slavering over. Especially due to her breakout role in the upcoming HBO drama, The Idol.

    What is going on with The Idol on HBO?

    The Idol is the latest drama from Sam Levinson, the creator of Euphoria. Which is to say, who didn’t expect a messy medley of sex, drugs, and the male gaze? Even before the first signs of trouble came out in a Rolling Stone expose months ago, Levinson was a controversial figure. Euphoria is often criticized for glamorizing drug use, as well as for flat character arcs for many of the cast and the semi-toxic environment on set. While other projects like Malcolm & Marie, which he wrote alongside Zendaya, wrought arguments about exploitation and representation.

    This new project is a collaboration with The Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye. And Lily-Rose Depp is the star. It follows Depp’s character, Jocelyn, a world-famous pop star recovering from her mother’s death and trying to reclaim her status as the biggest name in Hollywood. Doesn’t sound crazy yet? Well, it’s self-proclaimed as “the sleaziest love story in Hollywood.” And that’s where Tesfaye’s character comes in. When Jocelyn falls for him, she begins a downward spiral that, according to reviews from Cannes, is an exhausting tour of depravity for depravity’s sake.

    The Idol | Official Teaser 2 | HBOwww.youtube.com

    It’s a star-studded production, featuring many musicians-turned actors such as Jennie from Blackpink, Troye Sivan, Moses Sumney, and more.

    It premiered at Cannes on Monday, May 22, and many reviews confirm the reports: although visually stunning, it’s a mess. Depp, by all accounts, gives a riveting performance. And she deserves recognition for her acting chops. But I wish this praise was coming down for literally any other project. The Idol will perform as promised, shocking audiences and provoking reactions, but is that always a good thing?

    And yet … despite the problematic creators, its shoddy premise, and the shitshow of the show itself, it still got a 5-minute standing ovation at Cannes.

    But what does audience praise at Cannes truly mean anymore? That, of course, brings us to Depp’s father … The Other Depp.

    What has Lily-Rose said about Johnny Depp?

    It was a father-daughter weekend on the Croisette, with both Lily-Rose and her father, the actor Johnny Depp, debuting projects at Cannes.

    J. Depp has a starring role in the French period film Jeanne du Barry, in which he plays King Louis XV. The film was both the first film of the festival and Depp’s first film role since his highly publicized defamation trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard (not counting his cameo in Rihanna’s Fenty show … yikes).

    His appearance caused much controversy at Cannes. Although he won his lawsuit — and although TikTok memes and internet frenzy confirmed he’d emerge from the lawsuit even more beloved than ever — there’s no denying or doubting the acts of abuse he committed against Heard.

    As his daughter, Lily-Rose Depp has been fielding questions about her father since the trial — most of which she has declined to answer.

    In her infamous 2022 ELLE cover interview, she tried to distance herself from her father’s press by saying: “When it’s something that’s so private and so personal that all of a sudden becomes not so personal…I feel really entitled to my secret garden of thoughts. I also think that I’m not here to answer for anybody, and I feel like for a lot of my career, people have really wanted to define me by the men in my life, whether that’s my family members or my boyfriends, whatever. And I’m really ready to be defined for the things that I put out there.”

    However, after her father received a 7-minute standing ovation on opening night, she gushed about it to ET. “I’m super happy for him. I’m super excited,” she said. “And it’s so awesome that we get to do projects that we’re super proud of.”

    Speaking of her famous parents, remember what she said about nepo babies?

    When both you and your father are standing on one of the most spectacular red carpets of the year, you’re never beating the nepo baby allegations.

    Though this is Depp’s breakout role, she has been in the spotlight her whole life — and working in the industry since she was 16.

    But she resents the term “nepo baby.” She told ELLE, “ The internet seems to care a lot about that kind of stuff. People are going to have preconceived ideas about you or how you got there, and I can definitely say that nothing is going to get you the part except for being right for the part,” she says.

    Though many people have since contested this assertion in the great nepo baby reckoning of 2022, it is what it is. Depp continued: “The internet cares a lot more about who your family is than the people who are casting you in things. Maybe you get your foot in the door, but you still just have your foot in the door. There’s a lot of work that comes after that.”

    While I don’t doubt that Depp has worked hard in her career … she’s also a 5’2 runway model. Like, c’mon. Be a little more self-aware.

    Who is Lily Rose-Depp Dating

    Alongside her disdain for being judged based on her parentage, Depp is equally tired of how the media has linked her to her ex-partners.

    We must assume she’s referring to her most high-profile relationship with Timothee Chalamet. The French-American pair made quite the chic couple. Except for maybe those embarrassing pap pics of them making out on a yacht — oh to be young, rich, and in love.

    In the past, Depp has remained pretty private about her relationships. The exception, however, is her current relationship with singer, 070 Shake.

    This is Depp’s first public relationship with a woman. Shake, who was most recently featured on the hit song “Escapism” by RAYE, was previously linked to Kehlani before debuting a now very-public, very hands-on relationship with Depp. The two are not shy about PDA. They publicly lavish each other with affection and post about their relationship on social media.

    This fresh approach to her dating life might be part of a new era. Who knows? Perhaps her role as Jocelyn brought out a new persona — one that is more prone to sharing her life with the world.

    Whatever the reason, Depp is cementing her icon status in Cannes. From her vintage Chanel outfits to her It Girl attitude, Lily-Rose is one to watch. Even if you don’t tune in to watch her show, The Idol.

    LKC

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  • 26 Can’t-Miss Summer TV Shows Coming in 2023

    26 Can’t-Miss Summer TV Shows Coming in 2023

    God love ‘em, the Gemstones’ prayers have finally been answered. Season three of The Righteous Gemstones returns to HBO on June 18, and, in a page straight out of Succession, Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam DeVine) Gemstone finally have control of the family’s televangelist church made world-famous by their father, Dr. Eli Gemstone (John Goodman). But, running a megachurch is not as easy as it seems, and, from the looks of it, the Gemstone children may not be cut out for the gig. Pray for them.  —Chris Murphy

    The Walking Dead: Dead City

    June 18 (AMC)

    The universe of The Walking Dead expands once again with this sequel series, which picks up two years after the end of The Walking Dead and finds former enemies Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) traveling in a postapocalyptic Manhattan. It’s the fourth spin-off from the smash-hit AMC series, which wrapped its 11th and final season in November 2022. None of the follow-up series have become as huge as the original, but AMC clearly remains very much in the zombie business. —K.R.

    Secret Invasion

    June 21 (Disney+)

    “We don’t know who’s a friend, who’s the enemy,” Samuel L. Jackson told Anthony Breznican for Vanity Fair’s first look at his upcoming Marvel series, which follows Jackson’s former S.H.I.E.L.D. director, Nick Fury, as he uncovers a conspiracy to quietly install double agents into positions of power around the world. He’s joined by Emilia Clarke as an alien radical named G’iah, Olivia Colman as a British intelligence agent who has a past with Fury, and a few familiar faces from the MCU, namely Martin Freeman (as CIA agent Everett K. Ross) and Cobie Smulders (as Fury’s steadfast ally, Maria Hill). Maybe it’s not a new Avengers movie, but Secret Invasion seems just as starry. —H.B.

    The Bear

    June 22 (FX)

    Order up. The Bear—the high-octane kitchen series that premiered on FX last summer and quickly became the network’s most-watched half-hour show of all time—serves up a new 10-episode season two on June 22. After shutting down his restaurant, The Beef, Jeremy Allen White’s chef Carmy and his kitchen crew consisting of his “cousin” Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), sous-chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce), and veteran line cook Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) are preparing to open Carmy’s new restaurant, The Bear. Along with the new restaurant, there are a few new faces, with Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk and Booksmart’s Molly Gordon both joining The Bear for season two. “It’s not a reopening, it’s a rebirth,” reads the caption on a teaser trailer for The Bear’s second season. Yes, chef. —C.M.

    The Bachelorette

    June 26 (ABC)

    While many of us are still feeling the hangover of a particularly brutal season of The Bachelor, a new season for love is here with Charity Lawson, a 27-year-old Georgia native who was sent packing after hometowns by Zach Shallcross, calling the shots. She becomes only the fifth Black lead in franchise history, following in the footsteps of Matt James, Rachel Lindsay, Tayshia Adams, and Michelle Young—a welcome addition after yet another season where a contestant’s racist past was exposed. Here’s hoping that the exit of controversial longtime creator Mike Fleiss, and Lawson’s career as a child and family therapist bring fresh life to a wilting rose. —S.W.

    The Witcher season three

    June 29 (Netflix)

    Geralt (Henry Cavill) and Ciri (Freya Allan) are going into hiding as the new season of Netflix’s fantasy epic begins, a journey that promises equal parts discovery and treachery—and lands them in a position of putting everything on the line. Robbie Amell and Meng’er Zhang join the cast as an elven fighter and a human huntress, respectively. —D.C.

    And Just Like That… Season Two

    June (Max)

    Now that the death of Big and a realignment of friend groups has been taken care of, maybe the second season of Max’s Sex and the City continuation can relax and have fun. Maybe we might even get a more episodic format, with each installment centered on a particular theme—you know, like SATC used to be. Though creator Michael Patrick King and producer/star Sarah Jessica Parker have been careful to note that AJLT is not trying to directly mimic the style of their previous hit, this is a different set of shoes altogether. So, perhaps that will be the real narrative of this sophomore run of episodes: audiences learning to embrace what’s different about the series, while its creative team finds a way to make it all fit. —R.L.

    The Horror of Dolores Roach

    July 7 (Prime Video)

    From play to podcast to TV series: That’s the unlikely journey of The Horror of Dolores Roach, which began its life as a one-woman show starring Daphne Rubin-Vega, who reprised the role for the Gimlet Media podcast version. The play and podcast’s creator Aaron Mark will serve as co-showrunner for the series, which stars One Day at a Time alum Justina Machado as a woman returning to her Washington Heights neighborhood after being released from prison. As the description for the podcast went, it’s “a macabre urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, gentrification, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest.” —K.R.

    The Real Housewives of New York City

    July 16 (Bravo)

    RHONY has gotten a rebrand. After 13 seasons, Bravo has done away with original Real Housewives of New York cast members like Luann de Lesepps, Sonja Morgan, and Ramona Singer in favor of a fresh crop of ladies ready to take on the Big Apple. Bravo’s updated RHONY cast includes Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Jessel Taank, Brynn Whitfield, Erin Dana Lichy, and former J.Crew president and creative director Jenna Lyons. Season 14 of Real Housewives of New York will premiere on Bravo on July 16 because, after all, there’s nothing like summer in the city. Until then, we’ll have to wait and see whether the new cast will fill the RHONY OGs’ big and fabulous shoes. —C.M.

    The Afterparty

    July 14 (Apple TV+)

    The only thing juicier than an afterparty is what mischief happens next. Even more murder is afoot in season two of this comedic whodunnit, which deliciously recounts the same crime from a different character’s perspective in each episode. The sophomore installment reunites returning cast members Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, and Zoë Chao with a—ahem—murderers’ row of new performers including John Cho, Paul Walter Hauser, Anna Konkle, Ken Jeong, Poppy Liu, Zach Woods, Vivian Wu, and Elizabeth Perkins as an unlucky set of soon-to-be interrogated wedding guests. Let the theorizing begin! —S.W.

    Praise Petey

    July 21 (Freeform)

    Annie Murphy as an It girl whose glamorous life comes crashing down? Sounds a lot like Schitt’s Creek, only, this time, Murphy is voicing the animated Petey, who decides to lean into modernizing her dad’s small-town cult. From former Saturday Night Live head writer Anna Drezen, Praise Petey promises comedy for the Gen Z set. John Cho, Kiersey Clemons, and Christine Baranski also star. —N.J.

    They Cloned Tyrone

    July 21 (Netflix)

    Is it a comedy, a conspiracy thriller, a stylish sci-fi-action-mystery-Blaxploitation-throwback? Juel Taylor’s directorial debut looks like all of the above. “Blaxploitation films always represented movies that let us express ourselves, and we could just look snazzy and do cool shit,” star John Boyega recently told EW of the high-concept project. ”It didn’t matter if we knew kung fu. It just all made sense with the music, with the vibes. I’m just proud to, at least, be a part of something that pays homage to that.” Trust his costars Teyonah Parris and Jamie Foxx to nail the vibe too. —H.B.

    Minx season two

    July 21 (Starz)

    Axed from HBO Max in dramatic fashion last year, the 1970s workplace comedy has found a new life on Starz, with Ophelia Lovibond and Jake Johnson returning as Joyce and Doug, the pair of unlikely collaborators behind a feminist porn magazine. In season two, the magazine Minx has become a hit, which, for our heroes, “brings more money, fame, and temptation than either of them know how to handle,” per Starz. With the recent Party Down revival, Starz is hopefully well-positioned to promote another smart comedy and treat Minx better than its first home did. —K.R.

    Twisted Metal

    July 27 (Peacock)

    Did you spend the winter of 1995 watching your brother shoot napalm-laced ice cream cones at a souped-up Corvette driven by a ghost? If so, you too may find yourself intrigued by Peacock’s adaptation of the classic Playstation game, which casts Anthony Mackie as an everyman (he’s literally named John Doe) on a quest that, if the original is any blueprint, will mostly serve as an excuse for stylized vehicular mayhem. Yes, the clown who drives a killer ice cream truck is there too—and, this time, he’s voiced by Will Arnett. —H.B.

    Breeders season four

    July (FX)

    The fourth season of FX’s dark comedy series follows a tense finale in which Ava (Eve Prenelle) finally stood up to her father, while our weary married antiheroes Paul (Martin Freeman) and Ally (Daisy Haggard) don’t split up, exactly, but plan to move forward with a dynamic that may not be fixable, and a lot of pain in the rearview. How will they all pick up the pieces? Hopefully, the premiere lays out the road map. —D.C.

    Heartstopper season two

    August 3 (Netflix)

    Get ready for a summer of love. Netflix’s hit queer coming-of-age romance Heartstopper returns to the streaming platform on August 3. Based on the New York Times best-selling graphic novel series by Alice Oseman, Heartstopper follows Charlie (Joe Locke) a recently out teen at a British all-boys school, Nick (Kit Connor) a closeted rugby player coming to terms with his sexuality, and their budding romance. With a 100% average Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes, there’s clearly many Heartstopper fans interested in seeing what the next step is in Charlie and Nick’s romantic journey. —C.M.

    Red, White & Royal Blue

    August 11 (Prime Video)

    Speaking of Heartstopper, The Royal We meets Netflix’s hit queer romance in Matthew Lopez’s adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s Young Adult bestseller, a sweetly silly rom-com that pairs America’s First Son with the heir to the British crown. Sure, the premise is implausible, but McQuiston’s charming banter was enough to sell it in novel form. Presumably, young cuties Taylor Zakhar Pérez and Nicholas Galitzine will be able to do the same on the small screen. Plus: Uma Thurman as the first female POTUS! —H.B.

    Reservation Dogs season two

    Summer Date TBD (FX)

    At the end of season two, the titular Dogs—Indigenous teens Elora Danan (Devery Jacobs), Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), and Cheese (Lane Factor)—have made their long-awaited sojourn to California, a dream they often discussed while living on the Muscogee Nation Reservation in Oklahoma. But, while the last season ended with a sense of resolution, showrunner Sterlin Harjo has teased “some darkness coming” in season three for the group, whose bond was cemented after the tragic loss of their fifth friend just before the show’s start. —S.W.

    What We Do in the Shadows season five

    Summer Date TBD (FX)

    Renewed last year for a fifth and sixth season, the vampire comedy returns with a major vote of confidence from its network, and a major cliff-hanger to wrap up: At the end of the last season, human familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) had asked to be turned into a vampire. The season ended with several other resets, like Baby Colin’s (Mark Proksch) reversion back to regular adult Colin and the end of Nadja’s (Natasia Demetriou) nightclub dream. But, for vampire characters who have been alive for hundreds of years, there’s clearly time for many more adventures. —K.R.

    Hillary Busis, Richard Lawson, Savannah Walsh, Rebecca Ford, David Canfield, Katey Rich, Natalie Jarvey, Chris Murphy

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  • The Weeknd Says He’s Planning To Ditch His Stage Name: ‘I’m Getting Ready To Close The Weeknd Chapter’

    The Weeknd Says He’s Planning To Ditch His Stage Name: ‘I’m Getting Ready To Close The Weeknd Chapter’

    By Corey Atad.
    Published:

    Goodbye Weeknd, hello Abel.

    This week, W Magazine debuted its annual ‘The Pop Issue”, with “The Idol” stars The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp on the cover.


    READ MORE:
    The Weeknd Is The Latest Celeb Joining The Bidding War For The Ottawa Senators

    In the issue, The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, talks about his plans to ditch his stage name in the near future.

    “I’m going through a cathartic path right now. It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter,” he says.

    The Weeknd – Photo: Tyler Mitchell for W Magazine

    “I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd,” Tesfaye continues. “And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.

    Talking about when the death of “The Weeknd” might finally happen, the artist says, “The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd. This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”

    On his quest for perfection and the choice to re-shoot much of “The Idol”, The Weeknd says, “Film and TV is a new creative muscle for me. I don’t release my music until I think it is great. Why would this be any different…I realized that I need to know that I’ve made the best version of whatever I’m making.”

    He adds, “It was a challenge to redo ‘The Idol’, and, in truth, I sacrificed my health and home to make it work. So, let’s say it comes out and it’s fucking horrible. I still know I did my absolute best. From what I’ve seen, the show is great. Everything is a risk: When you’ve done the best you can, I would call that a happy ending.”


    READ MORE:
    The Weeknd Seems To Address ‘The Idol’ Toxic Work Environment Allegations: ‘That Hurts’

    Lily-Rose Depp – Photo: Tyler Mitchell for W Magazine
    Lily-Rose Depp – Photo: Tyler Mitchell for W Magazine

    Also in the article, Depp opens up about the audition process for “The Idol”, in which she plays a controversial pop superstar.

    “I never thought I would get the part. I knew there would be many lovely ladies who are more musical than me, but I thought,I’ll give it a go. I wanted to wear pop-star colours, and I wanted to channel a certain L.A. feeling. I grew up in L.A., and I’m an L.A. girl, and so is Jocelyn. I wanted to capture the style mix of mischief and shine,” she says.

    Lily-Rose Depp – Photo: Tyler Mitchell for W Magazine
    Lily-Rose Depp – Photo: Tyler Mitchell for W Magazine

    One aspect of her character that she really did make her own was Jocelyn’s style, changing her look from what was written in the script.

    “As a blonde, Jocelyn could be good; she could be evil. You never know,” Depp says. “I grew up watching older films, especially French films. Women like Brigitte Bardot have beauty mixed with an ‘I don’t give a fuck’ energy. I wanted that feeling for Jocelyn.”

    Corey Atad

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