The Weeknd Wants to ‘Piss Some People Off’ With ‘The Idol,’ Sam Levinson Says Toxic Set Report Made Him Realize It’ll Be ‘Biggest Show of the Summer’

variety.com:

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter One of the most talked-about titles at this year’s Cannes Film Festival isn’t a movie, but a TV show. “The Idol,” a scandalous, sexy and sure-to-be-polarizing series (think “Euphoria” but set in the world of pop music) about the price of fame, premiered two of the first five episodes at the festival and instantly inspired a thousand hot-takes about all that on-screen nudity, bodily fluids and Hollywood sycophants.

But before “The Idol” — the brainchild of “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye — even made its way to the Croisette, an explosive report by Rolling Stone detailed on-set turmoil, including allegations of a toxic work environment, last-minute script rewrites and budgets gone wild.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the day after the premiere, Levinson responded directly to the allegations and denied the behind-the-scenes drama. “When my wife read me the article,” he recalled, “I looked at her and I said, ‘I think we’re about to have the biggest show of the summer.'” He continued, “We know we’re making a show that is provocative.

It’s not lost on us.” But as for the allegations in the article, he says, “it felt completely foreign to me. My only slight is they intentionally omitted anything that didn’t fit their narrative.