Few series have aroused more hatred than the one that was destined to turn Lily Rose Depp and The Weeknd into superstars. Theoretically both were already very popular, but the fact that the failure of The Idolles had such a brutal impact indicates that they were not such, ahem, idols. She carried the best genes possible in showbusiness (daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis); He was one of the most successful musicians in the world. The Idol was the perfect vehicle for both to reach a zenith from which they would never descend: total stars. Spoiler: it goes wrong.
Presented in style at the Cannes Festival, The Idol generated animosity from the first moment. Their first reviews highlighted the charisma of Lily Rose Depp, but they also inaugurated the line of thought and commentary that would finally sink the series: Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) was not only the worst actor ever seen, but his very clear interference in the development of the series had mortally wounded her. It was clear that his control over the production had turned a series that could have shined into a grotesque grotesque. The suspicions were thus confirmed: the departure of Amy Seimetz (The Girlfriend Experience) from the project for wanting to give it an eminently feminine perspective revealed Tesfaye as a self-conscious and envious artist, disturbingly similar to the character he plays in the series, that Tedros. Tedros about whom so many jokes were made at the time. It was never clear what position Sam Levinson occupied in this whole soap opera. The creator of the extraordinary Euphoria is also the creator of The Idol, so he will have some responsibility for its collapse.
The worst thing about The Idol is not that it is so bad, but that we glimpse on several occasions how great it could have been. Its first episodes start with bursts of energy and personality… only to collapse minutes later. And Lily Rose Depp, whose aura of superstardom is so supernatural that it would be impossible for the camera not to capture it, gives herself completely to the series. A series that also talks about that: about dedication, about the abyss, about the inability to fully describe (and therefore, to create from scratch) the magic of mass entertainment. From The Idol we saved her, Hank Azaria and Jane Adams (in characters that clearly belong to another better series), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (potential winner of an Oscar in 2024 for Those Who Remain) and that indescribable presence and magnetic that is Moses Sumney. Almost everything else is better forgotten. When the barrage of negative reviews was already uncontrollable, HBO began to pretend that The Idol did not exist. Lily Rose Depp, a very fair candidate for the Emmy and the Golden Globe, has not even been considered for any of those awards. That’s the level of disgust we got from her series. She, who doesn’t know what it’s like to fail in life (she was born successful), surely doesn’t care that much. But The Weeknd is annoyed by the shipwreck of The Idol. And he shows it. And I get happy.
