Hollywood has a creep problem, and it’s one the industry seems increasingly unwilling to change its mind about, despite a surge in public knowledge about all of the terrible things that go on behind the scenes. Some will point to the arrest of Harvey Weinstein (after decades of using his power to sexually abuse dozens of women) as proof the #MeToo movement did some good and started a shift in attitude, but instead of taking more scalps, the rich and famous seem determined to continually bring abusers, liars, and criminals back into the fold. And now, we’ve seen a pretty accurate representation of this attitude play out in real time, with the vastly different reactions between Cannes attendees and a general audience to controversial HBO drama series The Idol.
At the famous arts festival in France, a screening of the show was treated to a five-minute long standing ovation, leading to tears from its stars. However, its director Sam Levinson has been involved in many well publicized controversies, a pattern that began well before he started work on The Idol. This included being infamously petty with actors who didn’t follow his every command, creating a deeply toxic and occasionally unsafe work environment, and constantly trying to insert superfluous nude scenes into Euphoria, the show he ran before starting on the HBO series that was so well received by industry types in France.
Even in this context his work on The Idol has appeared to be particularly worriesome, especially given the content and direction of the show. The Idol follows an aspiring singer as she begins a complicated and potentially abusive relationship with the head of a cult and self-help guru, and is effectively about powerful men using thier power to coerce and control young women. Although the six-episode series began shooting with female director Amy Seimetz, she promptly quit in April of last year, leading Levinson to step in and take the reins. Although it is yet to be confirmed, some have reported the Weeknd, who stars in The Idol alongside Lily-Rose Depp, butted heads with Seimetz and thought the show was heading in a direction that gave too much to the “female perspective.” Because, what Hollywood is missing is more stories about women told by powerful men in the industry.
There were also more troubling leaks than that about the show, with the news that the supposedly dark satire about fame had lots of elements that made it seem like the “satire” element of that equation was missing. This was summed up by reports that there was originally a scene written in which Lily-Rose Depp’s character begs the cult leader to rape her. “It was like any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show,” said one production member. HBO, for their part, have defended their show, stating:
“…the creative team has been committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment, and last year, the team made creative changes they felt were in the best interest of both the production and the cast and crew.”
Despite all of this, the Cannes crowd seemed to have really loved the two episodes of The Idol they were treated to. And, while terrible people have made great on-screen art before (Kubrik, Hitchcock, Riefenstahl), it seems that audiences don’t agree with the festival goers in any way, shape, or form about the show’s quality. With a startlingly bad Rotten Tomatoes rating (that’s dropped as low as 9 percent), it’s almost impressive how terribly it’s performing. And, to make matters worse, those who saw it at Cannes haven’t all been so effusive about it either.
It’s not just the general public outside of Cannes audiences who hate the show, either. Rolling Stone critic David Fear said the series was “Nasty, brutish, [feels] much longer than it is, and way, way worse than you’d have anticipated.” In this cutting paragraph, he added:
“Where The Idol goes after the two episodes that previewed at this prestigious film festival is anyone’s guess, though our money would probably be on further downward and fast…we’ve already seen enough to clock that the series has fallen into a series of traps. It has mistaken misery for profundity, stock perversity for envelope-pushing, crude caricatures for sharp satire, toxicity for complexity, nipple shots for screen presence.”
Other critics reiterated this viewpoint, addressing further issues like “the hideous, self-excusing presentation of rape culture.” One reviewer — for British outlet The Daily Telegraph — pointed out that “even the music was dreadful,” which when you read the full piece is probably the nicest thing he says about the show.
For now, though, it seems The Idol has performed that magical trick of being about the industry, thus making industry types love it regardless of quality (La La Land, anyone?) or the ethical issues surrounding its production (the vast majority of films and shows made before the last decade, and probably a lot more in that time too). This troubling trend is one that Hollywood is yet to buck — for all their slogans about fresh starts and equal opportunities — but it’s particularly egregious when talking about a show that follows a young starlet being coerced and abused by powerful men, directed and created by a man who is known for doing basically just that. To make matters even worse, Levinson is only landing on his feet because he has a famous dad, Hollywood connections, and is in an industry with a culture that doesn’t value its workers – especially female ones.
Sadly, as Hollywood bigwigs continue to show how little they care for the people who actually make shows for them, it seems nothing much will change in the near future. The Idol could be terrible, or it could be amazing – but it shouldn’t have been made in the way it was, and it certainly doesn’t deserve plaudits from those complicit in the things it seeks to satirize. Yet it will air, and Levinson will continue to direct — and that’s the really disturbing and sad thing about all of this.
