The Weeknd‘s long-awaited HBO series, The Idol starring Lily-Rose Depp, has been chosen by Cannes Film Festival as one of four Out of Competition Selections.
Co-created by the musician and Euphoria‘s Sam Levinson, The Idol follows Depp’s character, an aspiring pop star named Jocelyn, as she works to “claim her rightful status as the greatest and sexiest pop star in America,” according to a release.
“Her passions are reignited by Tedros (Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye), a nightclub impresario with a sordid past,” the release continues. “Will her romantic awakening take her to glorious new heights or the deepest and darkest depths of her soul?”
The other three Out of Competition selections — meaning, projects that will be screened but won’t compete for any prizes — are James Mangold’s Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny, Kim Jee-woon’s COBWEB and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s unclear how many episodes of The Idol will debut at Cannes, taking place late May.
Described in trailers as the “sleaziest love story of all time,” The Idol has been in the works since 2021 and has reportedly undergone several delays and personnel changes. Some accounts say that one or more completed episodes were scrapped, rewritten and re-shot, starting when original director Amy Seimetz suddenly exited the show in April 2022. Tesfaye allegedly thought the original direction was straying too much into a “female perspective” and Levinson took over the project.
The Thursday (April 13) festival news comes one day after the “Blinding Lights” singer teased the release of The Idol‘s official soundtrack, posting a 17-second video of himself and super-producer Mike Dean overseeing an orchestra recording string instrumentals in the studio. “THE IDOL VOL. 1,” he captioned the clip with a CD emoji, “coming soon (double fantasy & jealous guy just a taste).”
See the full 2023 Cannes Film Festival lineup here.
