Sam Levinson: Last News

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Musician and actor Dominic Fike admitted in a video interview with Apple Music that he was a “drug addict” when he joined the second season of HBO’s “Euphoria.” He was cast as Elliot, a drug user who perpetuates Rue’s relapse and finds himself in a love triangle with Rue (Zendaya) and Jules (Hunter Schafer). According to Fike, the show’s creator, Sam Levinson, tried to hire a “sober coach” to keep Fike clean in real life, but the plan failed. “I was a drug addict and coming on to a show that’s, you know, mainly about drugs, is very difficult,” Fike told Zane Lowe. “Sam [Levinson], the director and writer, got me a sober coach, somebody to be there all the time. It did not work.”

Jane Adams is calling out the critics of “The Idol” for refusing to listen to its stars.

 could have been short-lived. The 27-year-old actor, who plays Elliot on the Max drama, revealed in a new interview that he was reprimanded and nearly fired for being high on the job. «I was a drug addict and coming on to a show that's, you know, mainly about drugs, is very difficult,» Fike says in a wide-ranging interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music. Fike shares that writer and director Sam Levinson hired a «sober coach» to be with him «all the time,» but the strategy «did not work.» Asked whether he filmed any of his scenes while high, Fike replies, «Oh my god.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “The Idol” actor Jane Adams called out “feminists” in a recent Vanity Fair interview for persisting that the controversial HBO series exploited its female actors on set when many of them, from Lily-Rose Depp to Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Adams herself, have stressed otherwise. “What is amazing to me is no one’s listening—I’ve not seen that before in all my days, such a dogged ‘We refuse to change the narrative,’” Adams said. “I especially want to say to all the feminists, ‘Go fuck yourself.’ All these women that I’m working with are talking about their experience and you’re not listening. You’re not listening!”

Dominic Fike opens up about his sobriety battle while filming “Euphoria”. 

The Idol, the HBO series from The Weeknd and Euphoria's Sam Levinson, brought its first season to an end last week. I thought it was quite bad, but found the internet pile-on was exaggerated, as they usually are.

The Idol might be one of HBO’s most talked-about shows of the year.Created by Euphoria’s Sam Levinson, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Reza Fahim, the series follows aspiring pop idol Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) as she begins a complex relationship with a self-help guru and cult leader, Tedros (Tesfaye).In April last year, the series underwent a creative overhaul where original director, Amy Seimetz, departed the project. Levinson took over to direct all five episodes.HBO has not announced whether The Idol will return.

The Idol, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye's recently-wrapped five-episode series about a pop star seduced by a cult leader, you probably know that the original idea for the show was pretty different from what viewers ended up seeing. The final product is glossy, graphic, and dark.

Is The Idol just a sick, twisted ex-girlfriend revenge fantasy for one of its stars?!

The Idol wrapped up its controversial first season on Sunday night, and The Weeknd took to social media to celebrate the bow of the HBO drama, which he starred in, co-created and produced with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson.

wrapped up its controversial first season on Sunday night, and The Weeknd took to social media to celebrate the bow of the HBO drama, which he starred in, co-created and produced with creator Sam Levinson.«The finale. grateful to share this moment with you all as the season comes to an end,» The Weeknd, known by his real name, Abel Tesfaye, in his acting work, captioned the slideshow of behind-the-scenes pics from the series.

Arthur Schopenhauer espoused, “Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.” There is perhaps no thirstier example of this truth than HBO’S “The Idol,” the network’s over the top ode to synth moans and the under boob.Branded by critics as cringey at best and torture porn/rape fantasy at worst, the show follows controversial pop star Jocelyn, played by Lily-Rose Depp as she falls for ponytailed cult leader Tedros, played by Abel Tesfaye, the artist formerly known as The Weeknd who also co-wrote and produced the series. Tesfaye, whose acting talents have been the source of much debate, has fired retaliatory Twitter shots at both “Rolling Stone,” and less predictably, Oreo cookies.

“torture porn.” But that’s nothing compared to the wrath of Selena Gomez’s fans, who are pointing out similarities between the show’s pop star protagonist, Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp), and the Disney-reared diva. And the “Only Murders in the Building” star’s fuming followers say it’s Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, whom Gomez briefly dated in 2017, who’s to blame.

Spoiler alert: This review contains key plot points for the final episode of The Idol. When it was first announced, The Idol seemed like a natural progression for the Weeknd.

HBO’s controversial “The Idol” said goodbye to the weird, controversial world inhabited by wannabe pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) and her creepy mentor, the rat-tail sporting Tedros (Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye), after the show’s fifth and final episode, “Jocelyn Forever.” After struggling under ex-pimp/cult leader/star maker Tedros — Tesfaye is a co-creator of the show, along with Sam Levinson (“Euphoria”) and Reza Fahim — last night was all about Jocelyn demonstrating her power. Dwindling audiences of the show, said to have contributed “the worst sex scene in history” in an earlier episode, we are finally given access to the badass, pop diva lurking underneath, ready to strike with the same venom being poured into her by Tedros and company.Jocelyn, it turns out, is ruthless.The shift in power balance is clear from the start — while everyone gathers at Jocelyn’s house for a tour meeting, a disheveled Tedros is kicked out of Jocelyn’s life, seemingly forever.

Alison Herman TV Critic In the end, “The Idol” was neither as offensive as its detractors claimed nor as “revolutionary” as co-creator Sam Levinson believed. Like so many works of art that too openly aim for provocation, the five episodeHBO drama got in its own way, passing off reductive clichés as radical transgression. Much of the discourse around the show has centered on sex, the most attention-grabbing of its themes. But flashy as its approach may be, how “The Idol” depicts nudity, kink and power dynamics is less indicative of the series’ core problems than its take on pop music and stardom — ostensibly its primary subjects and the center of season finale “Jocelyn Forever.” Even with such an abbreviated buildup, the episode still managed to underwhelm, offering neither shocking twists nor effective catharsis. For a show in part about fandom, “The Idol” failed to inspire one of its own.

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the finale of HBO’s The Idol.

has taken its final bow.The controversial HBO series — written and directed by creator Sam Levinson — wrapped up its five-episode run on Sunday, with a jaw-dropping finale titled «Jocelyn Forever.»The episode began with Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) calling out Tedros (Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye) as a «con man and a fraud,» claiming he had been obsessed with her for years before they met at his club. Despite telling him to leave and saying the other members of their group can stay, Tedros remains at her estate and attends a meeting with her record label to discuss her tour. With the meeting and tour in jeopardy, the label agrees to listen to performances from other members of the group and it's a success.

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

The Weeknd has shared two new songs from The Idol ahead of this Sunday's season one finale. "Like A God" and Lil Baby collaboration "False Idols" are streaming below.

Ellise Shafer For Moses Sumney, being cast in Sam Levinson’s controversial HBO series “The Idol” was, as he tells Variety, “strangely cosmic.” The singer-songwriter — whose two studio albums, “Aromanticism” and “Græ,” were released to critical acclaim — first came into contact with Levinson when he synced Sumney’s song, “Me in 20 Years,” for Rue’s special episode of “Euphoria” in late 2020. Sumney, who had been taking virtual acting classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, then found himself auditioning for the role of Elliot (Dominic Fike) in Season 2 of the series. “I auditioned kind of on a whim, and it weirdly went really well and went pretty far until I think the powers that be were like, ‘So, I don’t know if he looks 16 years old,'” Sumney says with a laugh. “Then Sam called me and was like, ‘I love you so much as an actor, I’m gonna keep you in mind.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever, sure.'”