LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: HBO's highly anticipated drama 'The Idol' premiered on Monday night, May 22, at the Cannes Film Festival following months of rumors about how sexually explicit the show is. The Weeknd, along with Lily-Rose Depp and director Sam Levinson proudly debuted the show at the prestigious event but little did they know that it would be dubbed "torture porn" by Rolling Stone, which they refused to accept. The press and critics got to watch the first two episodes of the series and truth be told, the show has garnered mostly negative reviews, especially when it comes to Johnny Depp's daughter's nudity.
"The Weeknd and Sam Levinson's The Idol, Starring Lily-Rose Depp, Plays Like a Sordid Male Fantasy," read Variety's headline. "Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd in an HBO Series That's More Regressive Than Transgressive," said The Hollywood Reporter. However, Jane Adams, who starred in the show, dismissed all early criticism when she promoted the show on Tuesday, May 23.
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'Blah, blah, blah'
"Blah, blah, blah," the veteran actress who is mostly known for her work in independent cinema, told Yahoo Entertainment. When she was asked how the nude scenes were portrayed in the show, she replied, "I would say... with Lily-Rose, like why would nudity be a bad thing? What are people talking about? I don't understand. I don't even believe that mindset is real. That whole mindset seems fake to me, this outrage and pearl clutching that's going on about a nude actress who's beautiful. When did that become outrageous?" Adams added, "When I was young, I wish I had done more of it. I did films where I'm running around half naked. I don't care. I don't understand, you know? It's film, for God's sakes."
Depp plays pop star Jocelyn who desperately wants to get her career back on track after a nervous breakdown. She gets mixed up with Tedros, played by co-creator Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye who is a charming nightclub owner and also leads a NXIVM-like cult. Adams plays a crucial supporting character named Nikki who is a cutthroat record label executive that works with Jocelyn. Adams shared a lot of scenes with Depp in the first two episodes and she even called her "genius."
What did Adams say about Lily-Rose Depp?
"She's one of the best actresses I've ever worked with," Adams stated, calling her "quite a force of nature" who can "do anything." Depp, who has done a lot of promotional work for 'The Idol', denied all the claims surrounding Levinson that he created a chaotic set including last-minute script rewrites that featured unnecessary nude scenes. Adams also reflected on her working experience with Levinson who interestingly faced similar allegations on his hit show Euphoria, and claimed that all the allegations were false and baseless.
What did Adams say about Levinson?
"It [was] a wonderful working experience," Adams declared, calling Levinson "one of the funniest, smartest" directors she's worked with. "I love working with Sam. Sam, you know, is a visionary genius film director. This is a beautiful film he's made, it just happens to be chopped up into different episodes," she explained. "It's thrilling working with Sam because you just don't know what to expect in the best sense. It's not boring. It's not safe... it is the opposite of snoozy... For someone like me that likes kind of like an adrenaline rush it that there's plenty of those to be had."
Adams told the outlet that the show does not portray the dark side of Hollywood. "I think it's just the dark side of human beings. And I don't know what is going on in society today, but there's all these people pretending they don't have a dark side. I find that more frightening than anything in The Idol," she added, saying, "This whole pretending that everybody is Goody Two-shoes is terrifying."
Adams said the energy at Monday's event was "great" and called watching the first two episodes with an audience "a thrill." "If I wasn't in the show and I saw what I saw last night, I would call a friend and say, 'Oh my God, you have to see The Idol. Lily-Rose Depp is incredible. Her chemistry with Able Tesfaye is insanely great and Sam Levinson's a genius. It's gorgeous to watch'," she added.