Why The Idol Looks So Cheap Despite Insane $75M Budget
Fans suspect foul play by Sam Levinson.
HBO's The Idol is by far one of the most talked-about shows of the summer, but not because of its excellent quality or heartfelt performances of the lead actors. From the day Episode 1 aired in early June, people hated the series and wondered why HBO allowed Sam Levinson and The Weeknd to turn their project into a softcore porn movie, ruining The Idol's chances of ever gaining mainstream recognition.
Also, many viewers disliked the direction the show took, making Lily-Rose Depp's character the real villain of the story.
Now that The Idol is officially over (its first season at least), the question that bothers millions of fans is — why did the show look so cheap? Reportedly, The Idol cost around $75 million to make, so some people go as far as to accuse Sam Levinson of pocketing HBO's money, but the truth is much simpler actually.
The Idol's original showrunner Amy Seimetz had already shot more than 80% of the final product before Sam Levinson and The Weeknd came over and fired her from the project. Then, the creative duo decided to revise the script and reshoot the scenes that Seimetz had filmed before. Of course, the new showrunners couldn't get the money back and were forced to work with whatever budget was left to produce their show.
'I think majority of the budget was blown on the original version that was scrapped. This 5-episode show was re-written and reshot entirely, and it's clearly low-budget. They probably used whatever money that had left to make all this,' one fan summed up.
While this really explains why The Idol looks so cheap, people can't help but ridicule Levinson and The Weeknd for scrapping the perfectly good material and turning the promising story into a gullish fantasy full of violence and nudity. Needless to say, most fans hated their version of the story, and it looks like The Idol wasn't worth the money and effort put into it.
'That makes it even worse. Wasting $60+ million for absolutely no reason, and then spending even more and this is the end result… I know HBO is tightening their pockets after that,' one fan laughed.
However, Season 2 of The Idol is very much a possibility, with actress Da'Vine Joy Randolph confirming that it's 'everyone's intention [...] to have a second season.'