Very invested in the series “The Idol”, which he co-wrote with creator Sam Levinson (“Euphoria”), The Weeknd even lost his voice during filming.
With The Idol, The Weeknd takes his first steps as an actor. He does not play a singer, but an infrequent nightclub owner, Tedros, who will take with him a young pop star, Jocelyn, played by Lily-Rose Depp. In addition to being an actor, the artist produces, co-creates and co-signs the script for the series. Fully invested in his character, the interpreter of Blinding Lights even forgot how to sing.
This is what he reveals in an interview with W Magazine. After filming a scene from The Idol, the singer performed at a SoFi stadium in Los Angeles, California. “It’s hard to go from one to the other,” says The Weeknd when discussing the transition between his fictional character and his job on stage. “Then, after this concert, I lost my voice. No more sound came out. This had never happened to me before. I think I forgot to sing because I was playing Tedros, a character who doesn’t know how to sing.”
The Weeknd, follower of method acting ?
He adds : “Maybe I’m going a bit too far with this theory, but something very complicated was going on in my head at the time.” In another interview, this time for Entertainment Weeklyhis on-screen partner, Lily-Rose Depp, explained that the singer sometimes immersed himself in the method acting – this professional term designates the specificity of an actor who modifies his way of living and interacting with others to enter his role.
The actress even admits that she sometimes avoided the star on set when he was too focused. “Sometimes when Abel [le nom civil de The Weeknd, ndlr], and I don’t want to reveal too much about his character, but when he was really Tedros, I stayed away from him. I was like, ‘He’s in his zone there.'”
Other actors are known for their method actinglike Jared Leto who, playing the Joker, had spent his time terrifying his colleagues on the set of Suicide Squad, even if it meant exasperating some, like Viola Davis.
The Idol is available on Prime Video via the Warner Pass.