The Weeknd has been revealed as a co-writer for an upcoming film from director Trey Edward Shults. Little is known about the project, but The Weeknd will also reportedly star alongside Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan. The untitled film is Shults' first since 2019's Waves. The film was an indie darling, scoring well with critics and audiences but failing to recoup its $6 million budget. Shults has two other feature films - 2015's Krisha and 2017's It Comes At Night.
However, Shults' 2024 outing is shaping up to be his biggest yet. Ortega is one of the hottest stars in Hollywood following her massive 2023 with Wednesday and Scream VI. Meanwhile, Keoghan comes off the critically acclaimed Saltburn. As for The Weeknd, he will likely be hoping for a better-received screen outing after the critical disaster of HBO's The Idol. A lot of criticism was leveled at the project from Euphoria's Sam Levinson. However, The Weeknd's portrayal of primary antagonist Tedros was notably slammed by critics.
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The Weeknd Reportedly "Ordered" To Film Unscripted Assault Scene For The Idol
As mentioned, most people know The Weeknd as an actor from his time on the HBO miniseries. This generated a lot of unsavory headlines about a less-than-professional shooting environment. According to one on-set source who spoke to Page Six in June 2023, Levinson "ordered" The Weeknd to film a scene in which his character rapes the character played by Lily Rose-Depp. According to the source, Levinson made a surprise mid-scene adjustment during the shooting of a sex scene for the show's fourth episode. Levinson reportedly "explicitly directed" The Weeknd to have Tedros "strangle" Jocelyn before ejaculating inside her. Furthermore, these non-consensual elements of the scene were not in the original script. However, the scene was reportedly cut from the episode entirely.
Levinson was “by the monitor, laughing and feeding lines to Abel’s character, like, ‘I own you,'” the source alleges. While The Weeknd and Rose-Depp did the scene as instructed, many of the production staff present found it "extremely disturbing." Additionally, the show's intimacy director, Mam Smith, declined to comment on the scene when approached by Page Six. The revelation is in spite of the source also claiming that Levinson “does not take issues of consent lightly” and “was committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment on set."
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