After the series finales of Succession and Barry last week, those who aimlessly wandered into HBO’s 9pm Sunday slot may not have known what to expect from The Idol—a series branded “the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood,” from “the sick & twisted minds” of Abel Tesfaye, Reza Fahim, and Sam Levinson. But those familiar with Levinson’s often controversial oeuvre couldn’t have been shocked by the petri dish of sex, drugs, pop music, and toplessness that greeted them in the show’s premiere.
The man behind Euphoria doesn’t seem bothered by his work’s divisive nature—both onscreen and off. In March, Rolling Stone published a damning article claiming that The Idol was “a rape fantasy” that had gone into disarray behind the scenes due to Levinson’s shooting methods. His rumored free-flowing approach was even joked about in the current season of Max’s The Other Two: “You should also watch Euphoria. On that show, the camera never stops moving and there’s no shot list. The actors and director just figure it out together every day,” Drew Tarver’s Cary Dubek tells a group of disillusioned actors on a courtroom procedural. One of them replies, “That sounds bad, actually.”
Levinson has chosen to publicly revel in the attention. “When my wife read me the article,” about The Idol, he told press at the Cannes Film Festival, “I looked at her and I just said, ‘I think that we’re about to have the biggest show of the summer.’”
Beyond a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo from Euphoria’s Alexa Demie in The Idol’s series premiere, here’s a foolproof guide to knowing you’re watching something written by Sam Levinson—from his HBO series to films like Malcolm & Marie and Assasination Nation.
Someone’s social media gets hacked.
Levinson, who has inspired both adoration and ire on the internet, is similarly preoccupied with what it means to be living in a digital age. Major plot points in three of his projects have hinged on the leaking of private photos or images. In Assasination Nation, his 2018 directorial debut about “the abuse and madness and craziness of being a young person today,” phones in the fictional town of Salem are hacked, leading to mass violence and chaos. On Euphoria, Cassie’s (Sydney Sweeney) intimate videos are passed around groups of sweaty high school men, and the release of Jules’s (Hunter Schafer) sexual encounter with the parent (Eric Dane) of another student (Jacob Elordi) is used to blackmail both parties. (Assasination Nation also has an underage character engage in an inappropriate virtual relationship with an older man referred to as “Daddy.”) And in The Idol’s first episode, a sexually explicit photo of Jocelyn gets leaked in what appears to be a case of “revenge porn.” Naturally, Levinson’s own Instagram is set to private.
A propulsive soundtrack plays.
Whether it be the Emmy-winning original music from Euphoria composer Labrinth or the thematically revealing needle drops in The Idol’s first episode from Fiona Apple and Madonna, Levinson never misses the opportunity to script a song—or 30-something of them, the number included in Euphoria season two’s first episode alone. He’s also been known to end his projects on a high note. Both the season one finale of Euphoria and Assasination Nation close out with a marching band musical number on a suburban neighborhood street.
There’s glitter galore.
Glittery, ornate eye makeup has become synonymous with Euphoria and its bejeweled teenage protagonists. “These looks don’t need to be tethered to naturalism, as the stakes in high school feel so incredibly heightened and the makeup designs should mirror that,” Levinson previously told Vanity Fair via email. There’s plenty of shine in his other projects as well, from Zendaya’s metallic shadow in 2021’s Malcolm & Marie to Rachel Sennott’s rhinestone appliques on The Idol.
Cinematographer Marcell Rév shot it.
One of the constants across Levinson’s filmograph, is the presence of his Emmy-winning Euphoria cinematographer, who also served as DP of Assasination Nation, Malcolm & Marie, and, now, The Idol.
There are some familiar faces—many of them nepo babies.
