Lily-Rose Depp Defends Graphic ‘The Idol’ Sex: “Not Interested in Something Puritanical”

James Hibberd
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The Idol star Lily-Rose Depp defended the controversial HBO Max series in a new interview in which she discussed the pop-star drama’s content that some viewers have dubbed overly graphic and even “torture porn.”

Speaking to co-star Troye Sivan for Vogue Australia, the 24-year-old actress talked about the series, which chronicles the toxic relationship between a spiraling singer (Depp) and her new mentor/lover Tedros (Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd).

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“We know that we’re making something provocative and we are not shying away from that,” she said. “That’s something I knew I was setting out to do from the beginning. I was never interested in making something puritanical. It’s OK if this show isn’t for everyone and that’s fine — I think all the best art is [polarizing]. I’ve never felt more respected and more safe on a set, honestly. And I think the trust that we all built with each other, you and I [Sivan plays Xander], and [creator Sam Levinson] and I, and Abel and I, that can only make for a really safe-feeling set. So when it comes to the nudity and the risqué nature of the role, that to me was really intentional. That was really important to me and something that I was excited about doing. I’m not scared of it. I think we live in a highly sexualized world. I think that’s an interesting thing to explore.”

Depp has previously said in an interview with HBO that the show’s intimacy coordinators “are an essential part of any shoot that involves intimate scenes. It’s so nice knowing there is someone there who focused only on that and making sure everybody feels comfortable. Ours knew when they needed to be there, when they didn’t and left us the space we needed to create while also making sure, ‘OK, everyone’s covered.'”

The Idol also recently made headlines when viewers realized the season would only consist of five episodes — with the finale this Sunday — instead of the six episodes that were originally announced.

The Idol has broken HBO’s prestige drama streak, having only racked up a 22 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes (the audience score is higher, at 58 percent, though still fairly modest).

More troublesome for the company, however, the show’s ratings have seemingly slipped. The second episode fell 12 percent from the show’s premiere (to 800,000 same-day viewers), and HBO notably did not release ratings for episodes three and four.

Yet Depp added that she hopes to never really say goodbye to her character.

“I’ll never say goodbye to Jocelyn,” she said. “It was such a beautiful time in my life, honestly. I’ll never forget it and it will live in my heart forever. I love this character so much.”

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