Sam Levinson and Lily-Rose Depp took to defend their new series “The Idol” at the Cannes Film Festival.
Creator of Euphoria Sam Levinson has been at the epicenter of bad press and allegations on his latest creation for HBO. Levinson has pushed back against reports, including one major one from Rolling Stone, claiming his show is ‘sexual torture porn.’
Following the Idol’s premiere at Cannes Film Festival, viewers saw Levinson address the crowd for the first time at a press conference with series co-creator The Weeknd. Even star Lily-Rose Depp was present to speak on the show.
In the conversation with reporters, Levinson addressed a Rolling Stone article that claimed the show had a ‘sense of chaos’ on set and accused the show of having ‘disturbing sexual and physically violent scenes.
Levinson stated “We know that we’re making a show that is provocative. It’s not lost on us. When my wife read me the article, I looked at her and I just said, ‘I think we’re about to have the biggest show of the summer.’ And in terms of the specifics of what was in it, it just felt completely foreign to me.”
In the conversation with the press, the creator defended the series and said the goal was to make a ‘dark, twisted fantasy about the music industry.’
Fans of the Levinson were shocked to hear how he distanced himself from managing the production and crew. Speaking to the press, Levinson added that he was moreso focused on creating the series itself.
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lily rose depp and sam levinson on the now infamous rolling stone article that accused him and the production of THE IDOL being an unsafe space (continued below) #cannes2023 pic.twitter.com/MZTBrHj7Sk
— lex briscuso (▰˘◡˘▰) @ venice! (@nikonamerica) May 23, 2023
In the discussion, Levinson said Rolling Stone was “free to write whatever they want” but also criticized the publication saying it “intentionally omitted anything that didn’t fit their narrative.”
The series even poked fun at the damaging article in a teaser that was released on social media featuring The Weeknd and Dan Levy.
As for star Lily-Rose Depp, the actress said she felt “never more involved in those kinds of conversations” regarding the nature of her sex scenes in the show. Depp also went on to note, “I felt I was given the privilege in the creation of this character, from the inside out and from the outside in.”
Stars like Troye Sivan and Jennie from BLACKPINK also make appearances in the new show coming to HBO, however these stars have yet to make any comments about the series.
