The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp’s ‘The Idol’ became “torture porn” with ‘Euphoria’ director at the helm

Given that HBO dubbed The Idol as the “sleaziest love story in Hollywood,” we were all expecting a pretty risqué showing, especially given that Euphoria’s Sam Levinson was at the helm. But a new report from Rolling Stone has revealed that the series – starring The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) and Lily-Rose Depp – descended into full-on “sexual torture porn” under Levinson’s direction.

According to the report from Rolling Stone, Levinson has essentially rewritten the show in his image after scrapping all of the work done by original director Amy Seimetz. As a result, some scenes that the director wrote were not filmed as they were deemed to be too physically violent and/or sexually disturbing.

For example, sources told the publication about the following two scenes that Levinson cooked up, neither of which were ultimately filmed: “In one draft episode, there allegedly was a scene where Tesfaye bashes in Depp’s face, and her character smiles and asks to be beaten more, giving Tesfaye an erection.”

“Another proposed scenario was for Depp to carry an egg in her vagina and if she dropped or cracked 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.”

Another production member said that while the series, under Seimetz’s direction, was “a dark satire of fame and the fame model in the 21st century,” under Levinson’s oversight, it became the very thing it was satirising.

Other sources claimed they’re in the dark on when the show will make it to air, and even what the final version will look like, as delays, reshoots and rewrites plagued production. “It was, let’s just say, a shit show,” one source said. 

Currently, The Idol has no official release date, as HBO is only saying it will premiere “later this year.” Given the nature of this report, however, it’s unclear if that will remain the case.