‘The Idol’, the new series from the creator of ‘Euphoria’ for HBO, described as “torture porn”

Sam Levinson and Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye are “the sick and twisted minds” behind ‘The Idol’, “the seediest love story in all of Hollywood”.

This is how HBO advertises the new series from the creator of ‘Euphoria’, but various shooting sources have claimed that fact is stranger than fiction. The filming of ‘The Idol’ has become a tyrannical and chaotic environment in which only curiosity mattersdescribing the series as “torture porn”.

‘The Idol’ follows the story of a new rising pop star, Jocelyn (lily rose depp), who falls into the clutches of the leader of a disturbing sex cult (Tesfaye) starting a toxic relationship of abuse of power. Coming from the creator of ‘Euphoria’ and with this argument, the series promises to be the most provocative thing we’ve seen in a long time, full of the best sex scenes from television series ready to shock the HBO audience. But the thing seems to have gone out of mother.

Up to 13 different sources from the filming crew have reported for the magazine rolling stones the change of course that the series experienced after, in April of last year, director Amy Seimetz (‘The Girlfriend Experience’) will leave the project with 80% of the series (approximately) already shot. ‘The Idol’ began a “creative review” and rewrite process in which Levinson and Tesfaye took the reins and steered a series that was reportedly taking an “overly feminine perspective”.

Sources indicate that Levinson has discarded practically everything shot, weakening his message and has increased sexual content and nudity, far exceeding what was seen in ‘Euphoria’. “It started as a dark satire of fame in the 21st century., of the things we subject our talent to and the forces that put people in the spotlight and how that can be manipulated. However, went from satire to what he was satirizing”.

Levinson, according to these leaks, changed the plot of the new star victim of a predatory figure in the industry for a demeaning and toxic love story with a hollow message that several team members define as offensive.

“It’s like the rape fantasy a toxic man would have.with the woman coming back for more because it makes her music better.”

Levinson also attracted more famous faces to appear on the series, including the popular K-pop star Jennie from the group Blackpinkalthough sources report that it has “three or four lines per episode. Her job was to sit there and look prettybasically.”

At various points, Levinson’s scripts contained disturbing sexual and physically violent scenes between Depp and Tesfaye’s characters, say three sources familiar with the matter. In a draft episode, there was supposedly a scene where Tesfaye punches Depp’s face, and his character smiles and asks to be punched more, giving Tesfaye a boner.. (This scene was never filmed, the source says.) Another proposed scenario was that Depp carried an egg in her vagina and if she dropped or broke the egg, Tesfaye’s character would refuse to “rape” her, which sent Depp’s character into a spiral, begging him to “rape” her because she believed he was the key to her success. (This scene was also not filmed because the production could not find a way to realistically film the scene without Depp physically carrying the egg, another source explains.)

“I was like, ‘What is this? What am I reading here?’” says one of the sources. “It was like a sexual torture porn”.

The project has left many members of the crew never wanting to work with Levinson again, who they say is developing a long history of chaotic shoots. “I would never work for him againsays a production source. “I don’t think I’ll see ‘Euphoria’ again after working for him and knowing how he treats his team”.

However, the protagonist Lily-Rose Depp has come out on defense of the project telling the magazine that Levinson is “the best director” he’s ever worked with, saying that “she has never felt more supported or respected in a creative space, my contributions and opinions have been highly valued“.

‘The Idol’ does not have a confirmed release date on HBO Max, although its release is expected for this same 2023.