‘The Idol’: Lily-Rose Depp Reacts to Britney Spears Comparisons (Exclusive)

The new HBO series “The Idol” has it all…  titillating sex scenes, graphic nudity, and explicit drama.

Lily-Rose Depp — yes, Johnny Depp’s daughter — stars alongside Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd in the controversial new series.

“Extra’s” Rachel Lindsay caught up with Lily and her co-stars Jennie Kim and Troye Sivan.

In the series, Lily-Rose plays a pop phenom named Jocelyn trying to get her career back on track after a psychotic breakdown. Real-life pop star The Weeknd plays a mysterious club owner in a show that definitely pushes boundaries.

Rachel asked, “Is this based on anyone in particular? I know there is a reference to Britney Spears.”

Lily-Rose explained, “No, it's not based on anyone in particular… We’re definitely not trying to tell anyone else’s story, but definitely create one of our own. There were a lot of different people that I was inspired by for this role. Some that were pop stars, some that were not. I wanted Jocelyn to feel simultaneously like a modern-day pop queen of today but also like somebody that kind of existed in her own world and in her own kind of time so I drew a lot of inspiration from actresses like… Gene Tierney and Sharon Stone and women like that that I find really inspiring.”

The series has been labeled as “too graphic,” but Lily-Rose says, “This is a fictional character and fictional story… I think the daringness of all of the scenes was something that added to the character's rawness. Also to my desire to go there and explore the character to the best I could.”

Kim and Sivan, who are singers in real life, also defend the raunchiness and dirty dancing in the show.

Troye said, “This show definitely explores some dark themes… amongst those though is a really human moment… The exploration of loss… The show explores fame and loss, chosen families and friendship and betrayal. There's so much here. It was a really meaty, complicated story.”

Jennie added, “I have to do a lot dancing in the show, which came to me very naturally because it’s something I do.”

Rachel asked, “What does this show say about the industry?”

Depp replied, “The way that we idolize people in the public eye today. And the way that we almost convince ourselves that we know them… We build them up to these god-like statuses and then we kind of relish in taking them down. I think there is a big conversation around that in the show.”

Lindsay wondered if she was nervous to sing, and Lily-Rose answered, “I was definitely super nervous about it, especially being surrounded by so many talented singers. I was like... ‘Why on earth am I singing?’... but I loved the challenge... being in the studio with Abel… They really gave me the confidence… I ended up really enjoying it. It was cool ‘cause it was something that I was quite nervous about in the beginning and by the end I was having so much fun doing it. It was a really cool part of the creation of the character for me.”