Actress Lily-Rose Depp (24) has only enjoyed her explicit sex scenes in the new HBO series The idol. The series has received rare harsh reviews, which speak of ‘torture porn’ full of misogyny. For Depp, the scenes are important. “Maybe I’m a little crazy.”
No series has been as controversial in recent years as The idolHBO’s new prestige project and the intended successor to successes such as Game of Thrones and Euphoria. Even before there was a single episode on the streaming service, cast and crew members explained a bomb underneath.
The story of a young pop star (Depp) who falls under the spell of a nightclub owner (Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd) was originally “layered” with a “feminist eye,” according to insiders. When almost everything was shot, a new director started over. Sam Levinson and co-creator The Weeknd turned it into ‘torture porn’, according to those involved.
‘Worst sex scene ever’
The series got scathing reviews and is according to the Los Angeles Times a new gauge: ‘is it as bad as The idol?’ The Guardian indeed saw “sickening” torture porn, made to shock with no creative value. variety called the series “disgusting”, GQ spoke after the second episode of the “worst sex scene of all time.”
If the show is intended to be a satire on fame, the press says it failed. The series mainly shows misogyny, writes the Los Angeles Times: Depp’s character acts as an item for The Weeknd’s character to use, preferably wearing as little clothing as possible. The Weeknd dismissed all criticism and Lily-Rose Depp, the daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, said little. Until now.
Did Depp feel safe?
“We knew we were making something provocative and we didn’t shy away from it,” she says in this week’s magazine. Vogue. “I knew that was my goal from the start. I’ve never wanted to make anything puritanical. It’s fine if this series doesn’t appeal to everyone, the best art has a polarizing effect.” The sometimes violent scenes with a half-naked Depp are cause for concern about her well-being during the recordings. “I’ve never felt so respected and safe on a set, I really have,” she said.
“The nudity and the racy of the role were completely intentional for me. It was important to me and something I wanted to do. I’m not afraid of it. I think we live in a highly sexualized world and I think that’s an interesting theme to explore.” In fact, Lily-Rose Depp enjoyed it and played all the scenes herself, without any stand-ins.
Therapeutic
“I love such work (…) and I think there is nothing wrong with loving it,” she says at The Sun. The scenes are so explicit that many news sites do not dare to repeat them, but according to Depp they fit her character and are thought out to perfection. She therefore does not feel used.
“Maybe I’m a little crazy,” she says. “But I feel really good after scenes like that because they feel very therapeutic to me somehow. (…) Maybe there’s something wrong with me, but it’s a kind of catharsis: I feel like I’m shaking something that I had to get rid of.” The process of looking for the right emotions within herself she calls ‘healing’ for situations that she herself has never experienced.
No episode deleted
Depp’s well-known parents have not yet commented on their daughter’s nude scenes. She suspects that they are not jumping. “I don’t think any parent wants their child to be cold, so they would like me to have a blanket on,” she laughs.
The fifth and final episode of The idol appears on Sunday. This week it was reported that a sixth episode would have been canceled due to criticism, but the show had already been shortened. HBO denies that a decision has already been made on a sequel.
Watch the trailer of The idol:
Also listen to the AD Media Podcast below or subscribe via Spotify or itunes. Find all our podcasts at ad.nl/podcasts.
Watch our Show & Entertainment videos below:
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss a thing of the stars.