After finally premiering on June 4, HBO’s latest entry in the Sam Levinson Cinematic Universe has dominated the discourse, from its graphic sex scenes to reports of frustrating script overhauls. Yet one specific detail about the show stands out as less salacious but still intriguing: the magnificent mansion that serves as the home base for pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp), providing the backdrop for everything from revenge porn revelations to music video rehearsals? It belongs to an actual pop star: Depp’s co-lead and the show’s co-creator, The Weeknd.
As confirmed in Architectural Digest, that is indeed The Weeknd’s real-life, 33,000-square-foot Bel Air home where most of the pilot action takes place. The Weeknd has owned the palatial estate since 2021, and reportedly ran him a cool $70 million. The columns-and-glass behemoth overlooks the Bel Air Country Club, and features a recording studio, movie theater, infinity pool with a waterfall, and its own Turkish bath, as glimpsed when Depp and Idol co-star Jennie (a mononymous singer from South Korean girl group Blackpink) decompress for a sauna session following an intense dance rehearsal [ ]. Some of the Weeknd’s original decor even appears in the show, according to Architectural Digest, like the huge painting framing Jocelyn during the photoshoot early in the episode.
Shooting in an actual pop star’s house would seem to lend the show an air of authenticity, but it seems the choice was as much commercial as it was artistic. Part of the impetus Levinson told W, was to save money ahead of lengthy reshoots that saw original director Amy Seimetz depart and the tone of the series reportedly retooled.
“If we were going to reshoot from the beginning, I knew it had to be for less money. Sitting in Abel’s house, looking around at the 40,000 square feet, I said, ‘It’s stunning here—you can’t buy production design like this. What if we shoot it here?’” Levinson explained. “Abel put down his drink and said, ‘Do you have insurance?’ I said yes. And he said, ‘I’m okay with it.’”
Levinson went on to tell W that he, along with his wife and child, “essentially moved into Tesfaye’s house” to finish work on the series. The Weeknd, by contrast, had effectively moved out at the same time, saying he felt that they “were trying to blur the line between fiction and reality,” and that returning to the home once shooting wrapped was a strange experience. (He noted that he changed the furniture and replastered the walls upon returning.)
“The bedrooms were now greenrooms; the bathrooms were for hair and makeup,” Tesfaye told W. “We built a music studio in the basement so Mike Dean, who helped compose, and I could score the show while we were filming.”
The home figures heavily into the pilot, from bird’s eye view angles of Jocelyn’s team figuring out a PR crisis by the pool, to walk-and-talks in the home’s elegant white hallways, to shots of Jocelyn in what is presumably the master bedroom. Jocelyn and her dancers even rehearse choreography in the yard. It’s possible as The Idol goes on that the gargantuan mansion could come to represent a gilded cage for Jocelyn, who possesses all the trappings of celebrity but still feels controlled by others.
The Idol received its series order in November 2021 but suffered a dysfunctional production process, with several sources describing to Rolling Stone about a chaotic and disorganized production, with crew members and even cast members shaken up after a hiatus. The series still boasts an impressive supporting cast, from gifted newcomers like Suzanna Son and Rachel Sennott to musicians like Moses Sumney and Jennie, alongside established names Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Hank Azaria.