‘s controversial upcoming series The Idol is set to have a high profile premiere when it debuts at the Cannes Film Festival.
The first two or three episodes of the from earlier this month in which insiders described how the show had been completely rewritten and reshot with new scenes that they described as ‘.’
The report received a dismissive response from The Weeknd, 33, who posted a clip from the show in which his character shuts down the possibility of doing a feature with Rolling Stone.
The Idol is currently set to have a premiere on HBO sometime in the autumn of 2023.
Big premiere: The Weeknd’s controversial HBO series The Idol — which costars Lily-Rose Depp — while premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, sources told IndieWire; still from the series
Change of focus: The news comes after insiders claimed to Rolling Stone that The Idol had been completely reshot by new director Sam Levinson, who changed the story to focus more on The Weeknd (pictured in February 2021) and to include more explicit sexual scenes
However, sources also said that the insiders quoted had not seen the final version of the show, and that the most controversial scenes in the script might not end up in the final cut.
Too much? Insiders told Rolling Stone that they were concerned about the extensive rewrites Levinson did, which included graphic sex scenes. One insider said: ‘It was like, “What is this? What am I reading here? It was like sexual torture porn“‘; seen in February in LA
Although many of the criticisms over the shows new, darker tone appeared to revolve around Depp’s character, she defended Levinson and the current state of the show in a statement to .
‘Sam is, for so many reasons, the best director I have ever worked with.Never have I felt more supported or respected in a creative space, my input and opinions more valued,’ she said.
‘Working with Sam is a true collaboration in every way — it matters to him, more than anything, not only what his actors think about the work, but how we feel performing it.’
Sources also denied claims in the Rolling Stone article that the show’s budget had ballooned to $80 million, as they said the reshoots were nowhere near that expensive while speaking to