The Weeknd believes his series The Idol can teach a lot about the price of fame.
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The HBO drama, co-created by the singer, tells the story of a troubled pop star named Jocelyn, played by Lily-Rose Depp, who is seduced and brainwashed by a nightclub owner and guru named Tedros.
The Canadian star – who plays Tedros – admitted in an interview for Variety that working on the series made him see fame differently and hoped it would open the public’s eyes to what she really looked like. “Well, my goal was for people to feel that when they see it and reevaluate[the fame],” he said. It’s almost educational, that’s what being incredibly famous entails. You are surrounded by people whose true intentions you do not know, no matter how good they seem. We never know.”
Noting how different his situation was from Jocelyn’s, he added, “I’ve been very fortunate to have people around me that I’ve known most of my life, which is important and a gift.”
On the show, Jocelyn is surrounded by people who refuse her nothing, with the exception of record company manager Nikki Katz, played by Jane Adams, who doesn’t shy away from showing her reality as it is. “Nothing is worse than a person who keeps saying ‘yes’ to you, especially when you’re around these people. And when you see a character like Nikki who isn’t like that, she might seem like a bad person, but you also love her for her honesty,” he said. ‘The Idol’ received many negative reviews during its release, but the singer claimed that reaction was ‘totally expected’.
The final episode will air on Sunday.