Sam Levinson/HBO’s Controversial ‘The Idol’ to Premiere at Cannes

The s*itshow that is Sam Levinson’s “The Idol” will world premiere a few episodes at the Cannes Film Festival. Why did Thierry Fremaux decide to pick this TV show as part of his selection? Beats me.

The show, which was co-creatod by Levinson and Abel Tesfaye (aka The Weeknd) stars Lily-Rose Depp as an aspiring pop star (Depp) who falls for a self-help guru/cult leader (Tesfaye) and embarks on a journey of sexual self-discovery.

Cannes programmers are currently debating on the number of episodes to present since the third one ends on a major cliffhanger. It’s between two or three, according to the report.

No doubt the world’s most traditional film festival, Cannes rarely includes TV shows as part of its selection — they did make exceptions for Jane Campion’s “Top of the Lake” and David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: The Return.” But that’s Lynch and Campion. Levinson, creator of “Euphoria,” doesn’t scream A-list auteur.

Levinson’s three features as a director — “Assassination Nation,” “Another Happy Day,” and “Malcolm & Marie” — were not very strong either.

What’s even more surprising about the Cannes inclusion is that “The Idol” was the subject of incredible scrutiny earlier this month. Rolling Stone had reported major on-set issues on the set of the show after original director Amy Seimetz was replaced by Levinson. The production budget ballooned to $75 million.

Tesfaye’s complaints that the series focused too much on “the female perspective” completely overhauled the original vision of the show. Shooting went behind schedule and scripts weren’t finished on-time.

Here’s an excerpt of a deleted scene:

One scrapped scene described in the story, where The Weeknd’s character inserts an egg into Depp’s vagina and refuses to “rape” her if she dropped or cracked the egg, was reportedly cut because the filmmakers couldn’t logistically make that scene happen while preserving the egg. Per the report, the scene features Depp’s character begging The Weeknd to “rape” her. “It was like, ‘What is this? What am I reading here?’” a source said. “It was like sexual torture porn.”