The Weeknd and Sam Levinson’s ‘The Idol’ to premiere Out of Competition at Cannes Film Festival

A still from ‘The Idol’.
| Photo Credit: A24

The Idol starring Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd will premiere out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival before a broadcast premiere sometime this fall, according to IndieWire.

The show will screen at the 76th edition of the prestigious festival, which runs from May 16 to May 27. Either the first two or three episodes in the six-part season are expected to screen at the fest. Programmers are debating on the number of episodes to present, since the third ends on a major cliffhanger. Representatives for HBO allegedly told IndieWire that The Idol’s visit to Cannes remains unconfirmed.

Recently, Rolling Stone accused the show of indulging in torture porn. When the magazine interviewed 13 members of the show’s cast and crew, they reportedly were told that Levinson has “weakened the show’s overarching message by dialling up the disturbing sexual content and nudity to match — and even surpass — that of his most successful show,  Euphoria.”

“What I signed up for was a dark satire of fame and the fame model in the 21 st century. The things that we subject our talent and stars to, the forces that put people in the spotlight and how that can be manipulated in the post-Trump world. It went from satire to the thing it was satirizing,” said one production member while another one said, “It was like any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show — and then the woman comes back for more because it makes her music better.”