Category: Articles & Interviews

i-D Magazine: Lily-Rose Depp on The Idol and growing up famous

The actress is about to make a name for herself in a new TV show from the creators of ‘Euphoria’, as well as Robert Eggers’ vampire movie ‘Nosferatu’.

This story originally appeared in i-D’s The Timeless Issue, no. 371, Spring 2023. Order your copy here.
There is nothing so gratifying as meeting a creative person right as they’re hitting their stride; at that special moment in an artist’s life when the constellations are aligned and they are riding high, full of inspiration and purpose, a sense that some very good things are right around the bend. That’s exactly what’s happening in the world of Lily-Rose Depp.
When we link up over Zoom on an otherwise quiet Thursday, the enthusiasm is practically reverberating out of her. Though she’s been publicly known since she was born, thanks to some incredibly famous parents, she is just now on the edge of a huge moment in her own life and acting career. To start with, her starring role in the upcoming HBO series The Idol, created by Euphoria’s Sam Levinson and The Weeknd, is set to debut this year, and is easily one of the most anticipated projects in entertainment. And the rest of the year is just as stacked: she’ll be filming Robert Eggers’ take on Nosferatu as well as The Governesses, a film being produced by A24, the vaunted company behind cult films like Ex Machina and Everything Everywhere All At Once (as well as The Idol). To say 2023 is big for Lily-Rose, at the age of 23, is an understatement.

And yet, it’s not even the scale or size of these films and shows that have Lily-Rose most excited – it’s that she finally feels, on a personal level, like she has found her place in projects that are truly right for her. A switch has flipped in her own sense of confidence about her craft, and she is surrounded by the kind of like-minded creative comrades she’s always hoped to be around.
First up is The Idol, which she isn’t allowed to reveal much about yet except that she’s almost overwhelmed with happiness about it. In it, she plays Jocelyn, an aspiring pop star, à la Miley Cyrus or Ariana Grande, navigating the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll of the modern music industry. “I’ve dreamt of roles like this for forever. I just don’t think that you could give an actress a greater gift than a role like this,” she beams. “This has been the most meaningful and important project that I’ve ever done, and the thing that I’m the proudest of. I don’t know where to begin. Jocelyn is the most wonderfully complex character. She’s so fascinating. A mystery. After a year of living with that character, I’m still obsessed with her. I just want to keep digging deeper.”

The series – which has a delightful ensemble cast that includes Abel Tesfaye (aka The Weeknd, in his first real acting role), Jane Adams, Hank Azaria, Hari Nef, Dan Levy, Troye Sivan, and Jennie of K-Pop supergroup Blackpink – is the kind of project that, if well received, could make a career. It also seems like a role designed to completely reorient her image, which up until now, has largely been quiet and tasteful. Think of what Levinson’s other show, Euphoria, did for Zendaya, who until her starring turn in the HBO drama about druggy teenagers hadn’t quite been able to shake off her Disney upbringing.
In teaser clips of The Idol, where it’s referred to as “the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood,” Lily-Rose smokes, struts, seduces, and sexes it up on screen, embodying a rock star stage presence almost entirely at odds with how we’ve come to know her. She was inspired by the Britneys and Beyoncés of the world, but she also went back further in time to find the chutzpah. “I thought about movie stars of the 40s, like Lauren Bacall and Gene Tierney,” she says. “They did not walk into a room and descend to anybody else’s level to try and make them feel comfortable. They almost had this confidence in the discomfort that they could provoke in people. A thing of, ‘This is who I am, and I’m not going to change.’”

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W Magazine: The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp on Creating The Idol

The stars discuss their provocative new HBO series, which explores the seedy underbelly of fame.

Last September, on the final night of filming The Idol, an HBO show about a pop icon and her complicated relationship with a darkly charismatic club owner, Lily-Rose Depp was riding in a golf cart through SoFi Stadium, in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. The arena was packed with about 70,000 people who were there to see Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd. Depp, who plays Jocelyn, the so-famous-she-needs-only-one-name music star in The Idol, was with Sam Levinson, the show’s cocreator and the award-winning writer and director of Euphoria. For tonight’s performance, Tesfaye, one of the biggest musicians in the world, was going back and forth between personas. For the faithful fans, he was The Weeknd, a character he created at the start of his career; for the scene in The Idol they were filming as he performed live, he needed to be Tedros, the ambitious Svengali whom Jocelyn would be presenting to the crowd.

As the trailer for The Idol was projected onto the huge SoFi screens, Depp rehearsed her lines with Levinson. She was wearing a diaphanous white dress, with her blonde hair in a loose updo. Depp has large eyes and the exquisite bone structure of a model, but as Jocelyn she had applied heavy eye makeup and exaggerated lip liner, which gave her face a masklike quality. “I was a nervous wreck,” Depp said when I spoke to her later. “I was praying to all my guardian angels. I knew we only had two takes at SoFi. I felt like I was going to my wedding—I was so dolled up and in white!” Depp finally worked up the courage to introduce Tedros. “[This is] the love of my life—the man who pulled me through the darkest hours and into the light,” she told the fans, as Tesfaye came out to a huge roar. Despite her nerves, Depp was intoxicated by the power of being in front of a stadium full of adoring people. “It was quite addicting,” she said. “I didn’t want to leave.”

Tesfaye, meanwhile, was experiencing a kind of breakdown. His two characters do not look alike: The Weeknd wears sleek black suits, while Tedros has a rattail and usually sports shiny, ’70s-style half-unbuttoned shirts with aviator sunglasses. “I had to take off the Weeknd outfit, put on Tedros’s wig, shoot with Jocelyn, then go back to being The Weeknd,” he told me later. “It was tough to go from one head to another. Then, after the concert, I lost my voice. No voice came out at all. That’s never happened before. My theory is that I forgot how to sing because I was playing Tedros, a character who doesn’t know how to sing. I may be looking too deeply into this, but it was terrifying. As The Weeknd, I’ve never skipped a concert. I’ve performed with the flu. I’ll die on that stage. But there was something very complicated going on with my mind at that moment.”

Tesfaye’s identity crisis was about more than juggling two characters in one night. “I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he said. “It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”

More than a year before the SoFi show, Depp was asked to audition for the role of Jocelyn. “I never thought I would get the part,” she said, calling from Prague, where she was on set for her new film Nosferatu, in which she plays the disciple of Dracula—another sinister but seductive man. “I knew there would be many lovely ladies who are more musical than me, but I thought, I’ll give it a go.” Depp borrowed a tight pink satin skirt and a purple tank top from her mother, Vanessa Paradis, the famous French singer, model, and actor. (Her father, as fans certainly know, is Johnny Depp.) “I wanted to wear pop-star colors,” Depp explained. “And I wanted to channel a certain L.A. feeling. I grew up in L.A., and I’m an L.A. girl, and so is Jocelyn. I wanted to capture the style mix of mischief and shine.”

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Elle | Lily-Rose Depp’s Favorite French Phrase, Her Style Icons & Celebrity Crush | Ask Me Anything


It’s no secret #LilyRoseDepp can act, but when it comes to this #ELLE Cover Star, there is more than meets the eye. On #AskMeAnything, Lily-Rose reveals some things you may not know- including her passions, her favorite red carpet look involving Chanel and chains and even her favorite comfort meal. Watch as the actress deep dives into the things that she can’t live without.

Follow Lily-Rose Depp on IG: https://www.instagram.com/lilyrose_depp/

Deadline: Bill Skarsgard & Lily-Rose Depp To Star In ‘Nosferatu’, Robert Eggers’ Follow-Up To ‘Northman’ For Focus

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Eggers’ long-awaited new take on the Nosferatu is gaining some serious momentum as sources tell Deadline that Bill Skarsgard is attached to play the titular character and Lily-Rose Depp is in talks to co-star. The pic now is set up at Focus Features, with Eggers directing and penning the script. Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Robert Eggers, Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus are producing.

In the new reimagining, Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman (Depp) in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire (Skarsgard) who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him. Focus had no comment on the project.

The film has been a passion project of Eggers’ for years and came close to coming together in 2019 with Anya Taylor-Joy and Harry Styles at Studio 8. The film was put on pause as Studio 8 figured out a budget and talent schedules. Eggers ultimately pushed pause on the movie and moved on to his Viking pic The Northman, which bowed in April.

After The Northman, Eggers started looking at other projects but always had his eye on coming back to the gothic tale. Once Focus came aboard, he officially made Nosferatu his next film and began meeting with talent. Skarsgard has been loosely attached to play Eggers’ new take on the 19th century monster, going back to when he was developing the project with Styles and Taylor-Joy, and he quickly got Skarsgard to slot the pic into his schedule before it got filled up.

Taylor-Joy has become one of the busier movie stars in town and couldn’t fit the film into that busy schedule, leaving an opening for the role of the female protagonist at the center of the story. Following a number of meetings, Voyagers star Depp emerged as Eggers’ top choice for the role.

Skarsgard is coming off his hit horror pic Barbarian, which he also exec produced. He has a busy 2023 coming up that includes the Netflix thriller Boy Kills World and John Wick: Chapter 4. He also is attached to star in The Crow reboot that Rupert Sanders is directing.

Depp is set to star opposite The Weeknd in the upcoming HBO series The Idol ,with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson producing. She most recently was seen in the remake of Silent Night.

Skarsgard is repped by WME and Magnolia Entertainment and Depp is repped by CAA,Markham, Froggatt & Irwin Agence Adequat.

Source: Deadline Hollywood

Deadline: ‘The Governesses’: Lily-Rose Depp, Hoyeon & Renate Reinsve To Star In Joe Talbot’s Sophomore Feature For A24

A24 has assembled an impressive package for The Governesses—the sophomore feature from Joe Talbot (The Last Black Man in San Francisco), in which Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol) will star, alongside recent breakouts Hoyeon (Squid Game) and Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World).

The film greenlighted today marks Talbot’s second with A24, on the heels of his critically acclaimed feature debut, The Last Black Man in San Francisco. It’s based on Anne Serre’s novel of the same name and follows three rebellious governesses who upend the household they work in—inspiriting the minds of the boys in their care, igniting the imaginations of the bohemian couple who employ them and abandoning their charges for erotic adventures.

The Governesses was developed with the support of BBC Film, with Talbot adapting the screenplay alongside poet and novelist Olivia Gatwood (Life of the Party). Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe will produce for Element Pictures, with Rob Richert of Talbot’s Longshot Features and Angus Lamont. BBC Film is co-financing alongside A24, with production taking place in Spain, and A24 handling the film’s global release.

Depp is a two-time César Award nominee who will next star alongside The Weeknd and more in the HBO series The Idol, from A24 Television. The actress has previously appeared in films including Silent Night, Voyagers, Crisis, The King, Savage, A Faithful Man, Planetarium, The Dancer, Yoga Hosers and Tusk.

Hoyeon won a SAG Award and other accolades for her turn as Kang Sae-byeok on Netflix’s smash survival drama Squid Game, and will next star alongside Kodi Smit-McPhee, Cate Blanchett, Sacha Baron Cohen and Kevin Kline in Alfonso Cuarón’s thriller series Disclaimer for Apple TV+.

Reinsve recently netted Cannes’ Best Actress Award and a BAFTA Award nomination for her breakout turn as Julie in Joachim Trier’s romantic drama The Worst Person in the World, which landed Oscar nominations for both Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay. The Norwegian actress previously appeared in films including Welcome to Norway and Trier’s Oslo, August 31st, among other projects.

Talbot is represented by CAA and Granderson Des Rochers; Depp by Agence Adequat in France, CAA, Markham, Froggatt and Irwin in the UK and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols; Hoyeon by CAA and Saram Entertainment; Reinsve by CAA; and Gatwood by CAA and Management 360.

Source: Deadline

Wonderland: Speaking with friend and actor Margaret Qualley, Lily-Rose Depp covers our Winter 2021 issue.

“Life is complicated enough, honestly. There are so many people in the world, if I care about what every single person thinks I’m never going to get on with my day.”

She’s already played a consort, astronaut, and a young woman in love, but now our Winter 2021 cover star, Lily-Rose Depp, has sunk her claws into her most complex role yet: Wildcat. Speaking to her good friend and actor Margaret Qualley, the two women fight the fickle fate of a bad internet connection and humorously debate who is interviewing who (luckily they come to the conclusion Depp was, in fact, the one being interviewed today) before finally landing on the topic at hand: Lily-Rose’s – in true Depp spirit – ever-quirky upcoming film, Wolf. And to make it impossibly quirkier, she plays a woman who believes she’s a cat. As they chat, laugh a lot, and open up without inhibition, Depp’s raw insight into the world around her, who she is, and how her upcoming film reflects it, make something abundantly clear: the fictitious might surround her as an actor, and the fantastical as a certified Depp, but Lily-Rose herself couldn’t be more real.

Source: Wonderland

Deadline: Lily-Rose Depp Joins The Weeknd In ‘The Idol’ Drama Series In Works At HBO

In her foray into television, Lily-Rose Depp has been tapped as the female lead opposite Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye in The Idol, a high-profile drama series in development at HBO co-created by Tesfaye and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson.

The Idol follows a female pop singer who starts a romance with an enigmatic L.A. club owner who is the leader of a secret cult. HBO is not commenting, but Depp and Tesfaye are believed to be playing the singer and club owner, respectively.

Levinson co-created the series with Tesfaye and his producing partner Reza Fahim, a nightlife entrepreneur-turned-writer.

Joseph Epstein (Health and Wellness) serves as writer and showrunner on the project. Levinson, Tesfaye, Fahim, Epstein, Ashley Levinson, Kevin Turen, Nick Hall and Bron Studios’ Aaron L. Gilbert will exec produce.

Mary Laws, who has written on Succession and Preacher, will write and co-exec produce. The Weeknd’s manager Wassim “SAL” Slaiby and creative director La Mar C. Taylor also will co-executive produce.

Both of Depp’s parents, Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, sing in addition to acting, and Paradis has been a music star since she was 14. Lily-Rose Depp, who recently starred in Voyagers, will next be seen alongside George MacKay in Nathalie Biancheri’s genre film Wolf, as well as in Camille Griffin’s Silent Night, both slated to debut later this year. Lily-Rose Depp is represented by CAA, Agence Adequat, Markham, Froggatt and Irwin, and attorney Jamie Feldman.

Source: Deadline

Marie Claire UK: Lily Rose Depp reveals her beauty secrets

The face of Chanel’s new lipstick launch tells us all

Lily Rose Depp has fashion and beauty running through her blood. To be more specific, Chanel fashion & beauty. In 1991 her mother, Vanessa Paradis, fronted the Coco Chanel campaign, so it’s only natural that Depp has followed in her footsteps.

Not only is she the face of the brand’s No 5. L’Eau fragrance, she’s also fronting their newest lipstick launch Rouge Coco Bloom, £33 each. A hybrid of lipstick and lipgloss, there are twenty shades to choose from and you can get your hands on one from tomorrow.

So with such a big job in the beauty industry, we were dying to ask her about her own beauty habits…

What are the beauty products that you cannot live without?
SPF is super important and definitely something I try to remember to put on every day. And then of course there’s my skincare essentials, but as far as beauty is concerned, I’d say my must haves are perfume, lip pencil, lipstick, eyeliner, and concealer. And a hair brush!

What is the best beauty advice that you have received?
The best beauty advice I have ever received is probably just to make sure I’m always taking care of my skin. But as far as makeup is concerned, I’d say it’s just to have fun with it and do whatever makes you feel your best. Also that makeup is so versatile; you can use blush as eyeshadow, lipstick as blush, eyeliner as eyeshadow, etc.

Can you, in a few words, tell us about your relationship with la Maison CHANEL?
CHANEL has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I have been lucky enough to work with them since I was 15. I feel incredibly lucky not only to get to work with such an amazing, kind, and gifted team, but also to bear witness to their talents. The Maison really feels like home because of the people inside of it.

SEE TO BUY LIPSTICK here.

Source: Marie Claire UK

Deadline: Nicholas Jarecki’s Opioid Drama ‘Crisis’ Acquired by Quiver Distribution For February 26 Release; Gary Oldman, Armie Hammer, Evangeline Lilly Lead Killer Cast

EXCLUSIVE: The indie film upstart Quiver Distribution has acquired U.S. rights to Arbitrage writer-director Nicholas Jarecki’s dramatic thriller Crisis. Oscar winner Gary Oldman, Armie Hammer and Evangeline Lilly lead an ensemble cast that includes Greg Kinnear, Michelle Rodriguez, Luke Evans, Lily-Rose Depp, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, Duke Nicholson, Veronica Ferres and Martin Donovan. Quiver will release the film in theaters nationwide on February 26, 2021, followed by a digital and on-demand release March 5.

The film will be qualified for inclusion in awards season. Pic sets out to do for the opioid crisis what Traffic did for cocaine and the war on drugs during the crack scourge. In a series of interwoven story lines: a drug trafficker arranges a multi-cartel Fentanyl smuggling operation; an architect recovering from an Oxycodone addiction tracks down the truth behind her son’s disappearance; a university professor battles unexpected revelations about his employer, a pharmaceutical company bringing a new “non-addictive” painkiller to market.

“Nick brought his brilliant script to life in this topical and highly entertaining film,” said Quiver co-presidents Berry Meyerowitz and Jeff Sackman. “His look at the international drug war through the prism of profiteers, law enforcement, and all those caught in between is a powerful, thrilling story that we’re proud to bring to audiences.”

“The devastating impact of the opioid epidemic reaches all corners of society,” Jarecki said. “Each day brings a new revelation about what corporations, traffickers, and governments knew about the madness all along. I’m grateful to our outstanding cast whose nuanced performances put a human face on this urgent problem that needs our attention now.”

Crisis is Jarecki’s follow to 2012’s Arbitrage, which still remains the highest-grossing independent film to be released day and date, back when that was a thing. The film earned a Golden Globe nomination for Richard Gere.

Jarecki and Cassian Elwes (Dallas Buyers Club) financed Crisis together through Jarecki’s Green Room Films. They shot the film in 2019 and Jarecki edited during the pandemic.

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Deadline: Focus Buys ‘Wolf’; Amitabh Bachchan Boards Sci-Fi; Amazon Bolsters India Slate; Berlinale Postpones Italy EFM Country In Focus — Global Film Briefs

Focus Features has struck a deal for Wolf, an Irish drama starring George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp. The Screen Ireland-backed picture recently wrapped after a COVID-19-safe shoot. Focus has acquired the world excluding Russia, Turkey, Taiwan and the Middle East, and will distribute in the U.S. with Universal Pictures International distributing their territories internationally. Sales were handled by Bankside Films and CAA. In the film, MacKay plays a man who believes he is a wolf trapped in a human body, a real-life condition known as species dysphoria. Paddy Considine and Eileen Walsh also star.

Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan has boarded director Nag Ashwin’s upcoming untitled sci-fi project, starring alongside Baahubali’s Prabhas and xXx: Return Of Xander Cage’s Deepika Padukone. Billed as a big budget, multi-lingual production, the film, which is also known as #Prabhas21, hails from Vyjayanthi Movies. Aswini Dutt produces. “I feel lucky and blessed that Bachchan Sir has selected our film among the many choices he has… It is a full-length role, which we believe will do justice to the legend that he is,” says Ashwin whose credits include 2018’s Mahanati. Details about the project are being kept under wraps, though local reports have it as a sci-fi drama set against the backdrop of World War III, and this is an impressive cast lineup. The two Baahubali films were among the biggest Indian movies of all time. The film is slated for a worldwide release in 2022. Below you can watch a teaser for the project.

Source: Deadline Hollywood