Is Lily-Rose Depp’s The Idol character inspired by Britney Spears? Actor reveals

Lily-Rose Depp is currently gearing up for the release of her upcoming show The Idol, co-starring The Weeknd. She is playing the role of a pop-star Jocelyn in the series. After the release of the trailer, fans on the Internet started to draw parallels between Jocelyn and Britney Spears. 

Now, Depp has cleared the air around the rumours of her character being inspired by the Toxic singer. In a conversation with Extra, the actress said, “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. This is a fictional character and fictional story.” However, Depp didn’t shy away from listing out the people she got her inspiration from to play the character of Jocelyn. The star kid said she wanted Jocelyn to feel like a “modern-day pop queen” as well as “somebody that existed in her own world and in her own kind of time.” Gene Tierney and Sharon Stone were her choice of women to look up to for this particular role. 

Lily-Rose Depp on graphic sexual imagery in The Idol

Lily-Rose Depp also discussed how The Idol was criticised for being "too graphic" and was termed as “torture porn and a rape fantasy”. According to Depp, the bawdy aspect of the programme contributes to the character's "rawness." This came after a crew member from the show claimed that the level of violence, sex, and nudity on the show had increased to exploitative proportions and that the tone of the programme had changed after director Amy Seimetz departed the project, and Sam Levinson came into play.

The storyline of The Idol revolves around the world of the music industry. It focuses on the love story of a female pop singer. The Weeknd is the executive producer of the show and it is directed by Euphoria creator Sam Levinson. Along with Lily-Rose Depp, Troye Sivan, Jennie, and Danny Levy also feature in The Idol.