The Weeknd addresses ‘The Idol’ controversy: ‘I got my voice back’
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In a new interview with W Magazine, “The Idol” co-creator and star Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and co-creator and director Sam Levinson briefly addressed the controversy around the new HBO series and its reconfigured first season.
“Film and TV is a new creative muscle for me,” Tesfaye said of the show, which went through a massive creative reconfiguration last year. “I don’t release my music until I think it is great. Why would this be any different?”
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“Quitting the show wasn’t an option for Abel or me: It was a dream that we had together, and we had to see it through,” Levinson added. “If we were going to reshoot from the beginning, I knew it had to be for less money. Sitting in Abel’s house, looking around at the 40,000 square feet, I said, ‘It’s stunning here—you can’t buy production design like this. What if we shoot it here?’ Abel put down his drink and said, ‘Do you have insurance?’ I said yes. And he said, ‘I’m okay with it.’”
News about strife on the production of “The Idol” trickled out in April 2022 when Deadline revealed the show’s original director Amy Seimetz had exited the show amid a “major creative overhaul.”
“‘The Idol’s’ creative team continues to build, refine, and evolve their vision for the show and they have aligned on a new creative direction. The production will be adjusting its cast and crew accordingly to best serve this new approach to the series. We look forward to sharing more information soon,” an HBO spokeswoman told Deadline at the time.
Levinson took over as director and the entire first season was reshot. This year, Rolling Stone reported on the production and claimed it was a costly “shitshow,” according to an unnamed source.
“I went into ‘The Idol’ thinking that this might be an interesting collaboration, but I left it pretty convinced that [Levinson] is not quite collaborative,” a source claimed to Rolling Stone. “It’s really frustrating seeing Amy doing her damn best to turn around some kind of product that she can be somewhat proud of to HBO… and then [for HBO] to turn around and have Sam get essentially a blank check to turn it into ‘Euphoria Season Three with pop stars’ is extremely, extremely frustrating.”
HBO pushed back against that narrative.
“The creators and producers of ‘The Idol’ have been working hard to create one of HBO’s most exciting and provocative original programs. The initial approach on the show and production of the early episodes, unfortunately, did not meet HBO standards so we chose to make a change,” a rep for HBO told Indiewire in a statement. “Throughout the process, the creative team has been committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment, and last year, the team made creative changes they felt were in the best interest of both the production and the cast and crew. We look forward to sharing ‘The Idol’ with audiences soon.”
In her own statement, the show’s star Lily-Rose Depp said Levinson was the “best director” she’d ever worked with on a project. “Never have I felt more supported or respected in a creative space, my input, and opinions more valued. Working with Sam is a true collaboration in every way – it matters to him, more than anything, not only what his actors think about the work, but how we feel performing it,” she said. “He hires people whose work he esteems and has always created an environment in which I felt seen, heard, and appreciated.”
Speaking now to W Magazine, Tesafaye said he didn’t “panic” when the show was going through struggles, but the singer and actor did have a tough time when he felt his voice was being silenced.
“When everyone around me is worried, I get very still. But I did panic when I lost my voice. I had to rest and reflect and think about The Weeknd and Tedros [his character on ‘The Idol’] and all that had happened with the show. I realized that I need to know that I’ve made the best version of whatever I’m making,” he said. “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. And I got my voice back.”
“The Idol” premieres on June 4 on HBO and Max.
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