The Weeknd now understands why his acting debut project, The Idol, got bad reviews.
The singer, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, said it “makes a lot of sense” as the project was made in haste.
“Pandemic happened, theaters are not a thing anymore at the time, television is the new god,” Tesfaye told The Guardian, explaining that the show was originally meant to be a movie but post post-COVID situation forced him and co-creators Reza Fahim and Euphoria mastermind Sam Levinson, to turn it into a five-episode show.
“It could have been great if it had a beginning, middle and end. It just ended on middle,” he remarked.
The Idol, which also starred Lily-Rose Depp, Suzanna Son, and Troye Sivan, was brutally criticized by both experts and audiences alike.
The Weeknd continued and hinted that the show also suffered due to a lack of passion in some members of the cast and crew, who were eager for it to wrap up.
“The best films have as much of a singular voice as possible, and everybody working on it cares about it just as much as the director and the actors,” he said.
“People cared about it, for sure,” he said of The Idol. “But I think it got to a point where everyone was trying to get to the finish line. You can’t force something. You’ve just got to let it be whatever it is, even if it’s half-baked.”
He also claimed that while he was involved in the conception of the show, he had to tone it down as he didn’t want to come off as difficult.
“[Because] then I become ‘difficult,’ and the worst thing you can be called in Hollywood is difficult,” he said. “‘Difficult’ spreads!”
“You’ve got to pay your dues,” he added. “But boy, did I pay my dues.”
“And even though you’re looking at everything that is going on and it’s like, ‘I’m gonna have diarrhea right now because my instincts are saying things are off,’ you have to trust the professionals, the system,” The Weeknd shared. “You have to see it through to the end. It was unfortunate.”
