Tag: Hate

Lily-Rose Depp is opening about the most “upsetting” part about the divisive reaction to her and The Weeknd’s sexed-up music industry drama The Idol, explaining that it was difficult for her to watch director and co-creator Sam Levinson receive hate for the highly-discussed HBO series.

“I think the thing that sucked about that was to have people talking s— about Sam, who is a great friend of mine and somebody that I consider family,” Depp told Josh Horowitz on a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “I’m super close with him and Ashley [Levinson] — his wife who’s a producer on the show — and they are such wonderful people, like, so incredible, so kind, and really kind of took me under their wing in a way.”

Levinson took over directing duties on The Idol after its original director Amy Seimetz departed the series in 2022. In March 2023, Rolling Stone published an article that saw 13 production members criticize Levinson’s direction of the show, which underwent rewrites and reshoots, with some claiming that he “weaken[ed] the show’s overarching message by dialing up the disturbing sexual content and nudity to match — and even surpass — that of his most successful show, Euphoria.”

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Depp publicly defended Levinson — who also served as a producer and writer on the series — in a statement to Entertainment Weekly at the time, calling him “the best director I have ever worked with” and stating that she felt “seen, heard, and appreciated” on set. Still, while reflecting on the series, she noted it was difficult for her to witness the negative reaction toward him and his career.

“The only thing that was upsetting about that whole time period was people talking negatively about him, because the things that they said about him, particularly, as a filmmaker, just couldn’t be further from the truth than from, at least, my experience working with him,” she said on Happy Sad Confused. “So that sucks. You just never want to hear people talking s— about your friend.”

Depp also noted that she still has a lot of love for The Idol and her popstar character Jocelyn, who infamously strikes up a complicated and toxic relationship with self-help guru and cult leader Tedros (The Weeknd) on the show. 

“People are always gonna make their own opinions of things, and so you just have to be steadfast in your conviction of, like, ‘I know why I’m doing this,’ and I know why I did that,” she said. “That was a period in my life where I feel like I learned so much, I was pushed so far out of my comfort zone, in the most beautiful way, and it gave me so much growth that I will always look back on that as one of the most special times of my life.”

She continued, “In a way, it was surreal, and not because we always knew it was going to be controversial… you’ve gotta be expecting that in a way, and that’s okay. I’m interested in that kind of work. I’m down for that. I think we were also, like, pushing society’s buttons intentionally a little bit, in a way, and of course, it was received in the way that it was, but it’s okay.”

The 25-year-old also noted that, despite the show receiving negative reviews and being canceled after one season, people still come up to her and confess that it’s one of their favorite shows. “I’m always like, ‘I love that.’ It makes me so happy,” Depp said. “It’s beautiful and I wouldn’t change anything about it.” 

Listen to Depp discuss the series in the video above.