The Idol makes divisive debut at Cannes

HBO’s The Idol had its world premiere on the Cannes Movie Competition yesterday…and reactions are about what you’d anticipate.

HBO’s The Idol, which was co-created by Euphoria’s Sam Levinson, had its world premiere on the Cannes Movie Competition, with the famed fest screening the primary two episodes. And whereas it did obtain a five-minute standing ovation, that reception is much from unanimous.

Forward of its Cannes premiere, The Idol was garnering a lot publicity over its content material and manufacturing points, together with delays and big rewrites. A combination of criticism and reward was directed at Levinson, who was apparently making an attempt to prime the sexual content material that helped make Euphoria so successful. Per a number of individuals who labored on The Idol, the sequence “went from satire to the factor it was satirizing” and become “extra of a degrading love story with a hole message.”

The Idol’s official plot: “After a nervous breakdown derailed Jocelyn’s (Lily-Rose Depp) final tour, she’s decided to assert her rightful standing as the best and sexiest pop star in America. Her passions are reignited by Tedros (Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye), a nightclub impresario with a sordid previous. Will her romantic awakening take her to superb new heights or the deepest and darkest depths of her soul?”

It’s remarkably uncommon for a tv sequence to display screen on the Cannes Movie Competition, with The Idol becoming a member of works like David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return and Prime of the Lake: China Woman, co-created by former Palme d’Or winner Jane Campion. Whereas The Idol is ineligible for the much-coveted prizes because it has screened out of competitors, it’ll definitely nonetheless see a loyal following subsequent month, particularly to these seeking to get extra of the subject material that Levinson has grow to be famend for.