The Idol's Jocelyn Is Not A Britney Spears Parody, According To Lily-Rose Depp
Sam Levinson struck gold for HBO with "Euphoria," but his next project has received a far more lukewarm response. "The Idol" currently has a 31% positive rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes following a tepid response at Cannes, so it hasn't quite been the slam dunk as his previous effort. The first episode of the new series premiered on June 4, so general audiences could make up their own minds about the show, which follows pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp), who attempts to reclaim her status as the sexiest pop star in America after a nervous breakdown by turning to self-help guru and cult leader Tedros (Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye).
While the show's fictional, it'd be easy to draw parallels between Jocelyn and real-life pop sensations. During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the interviewer brings up Britney Spears, who has her own troubled history. However, Depp insists the singer wasn't a major part of the character's development: "We're definitely not telling anybody else's story or trying to base her on any real person." That doesn't mean there weren't any real-life influences in some regard, and the ones used for Jocelyn are pretty surprising.
The Idol's Jocelyn is more based on Lauren Bacall and Gene Tierney
Mental breakdowns and exploitation are part of Britney Spears and Jocelyn's stories, so it's easy to see how viewers would make comparisons. And the Britney Spears correlation has existed for a while now. Before the show even came out, Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye spoke with The New York Times to discuss the series, and he admitted that it definitely isn't Spears' story, but it'd be impossible not to look at what happened to her for guidance: "It's not about Britney at all, but how could we not pull inspiration from Britney, from Madonna, from every pop star that's gone through any kind of serious pain?"
With the release of the first episode, people drawing connections will only grow since Spears is actually name-dropped in the pilot. However, Lily-Rose Depp claims she looked toward other famous women to flesh out her character. She has some fairly surprising influences, stating, "We actually drew from a lot of other influences that are not pop stars, like you know, we thought a lot about Sharon Stone in 'Basic Instinct.' And, you know, kind of Gene Tierneys and Lauren Bacalls of the world."
With the name drop, it's obvious Britney Spears exists in the universe of "The Idol," so she could factor into the story more somehow. But with different influences, Depp's portrayal of Jocelyn can stand as its own thing rather than being compared to a real-life person. And when it comes to telling the most compelling story possible, that may be for the best.