Da’Vine Joy Randolph is embodying her inner high-stakes manager in HBO’s latest–and controversial–drama, The Idol.
The series debuted at Cannes to a five-minute standing ovation. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that director and co-creator Sam Levinson held back tears during his speech after the ovation, calling being at the festival “a dream.”
Randolph herself called Cannes “overwhelming,” in an interview with Shadow and Act, adding, “It’s too much stuff. I can’t get it all in at once.”
The audience’s reception of The Idol was also overwhelming for Randolph, who described it as like a birthday party.
“You know how you get awkward when…you’re at a restaurant and it’s your birthday? And some people are coming out with a cake and you’re like, ‘No, don’t’ because you feel so weird,” she said. “What’s interesting about Cannes is that you’re seated amongst the audience, and you are seated in the middle of the middle of the audience and all these people just start standing up and clapping around. It’s overwhelming.”
Randolph’s overwhelm is a good thing, though–she said that the experience was affirmation for her that she is going in the right direction.
“In doing this whole acting thing, it’s a mixed bag. You try to make good decisions of what projects to do, what projects not to do. But at the end of the day, who knows, right?” she said. “Who knows what’s gonna happen, but when you have moments where everything just aligns, and when something that you worked hard on is even seen, let alone received well and loved, it’s really overwhelming and it’s a beautiful moment and has been a beautiful moment for me where it was a reminder [to] keep going, you’re on track, you’re doing good. And kind of like [in] the show, I often give myself pep talks the same way I gave Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) to a certain degree…’cause it’s tough out here and no one’s gonna care more about the investment of your gift than you.”
Da’Vine called playing Jocelyn’s manager Destiny “a blast,” adding that she based her persona on a real-life Black woman who manages one of the biggest talents in music.
“I immediately started to look to people to be an inspiration,” she said. “A name that [I] came across was Mary J. Blige’s manager, who’s a Black female. A couple of people were like, ‘Oh, you should look into her.’ And then cut to I went to go to a music festival that Mary J just so happened to be at, and on the flight was her manager. So I used that opportunity to speak with her and get information and advice and learn things in a more intimate way of the life of a manager.”
“I learned from her that you work hard to play hard,” she continued. “It’s important to have a balance of personal and business. You have to show up for them in ways that other people never would or never think to do. You have to be their support, be the girlfriend, you know what I mean? [Be] the homegirl, there are many hats that you have to play at once and ultimately to play chess, not checkers, so that if something goes left, you know how to pivot.”
The cast as a whole has had to use the talent of the pivot when promoting The Idol after the series garnered negative press prior to its release, thanks to an explosive Rolling Stone exposé. Executive producers Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye (who also stars in the series) have since refuted the claims in the article, and at Cannes, the cast members did likewise. In a Hollywood Reporter article, the cast called the creation of the series a positive, creatively challenging experience. Randolph herself hailed the series as “femme-forward” in the article.
However, critics who reviewed the series’ debut at Cannes had tough reactions to it, particularly because of how much of Depp’s naked body is shown, as well as the character’s involved in sexual acts. In our interview, Randolph explained more about why she felt the show was more femme-centric than what critics were able to see in the screeners sent to the media.
“So this the thing, right? Those who have seen it have only seen two episodes, but starting in episode 3, there’s a major twist. Because Sam Levinson’s a genius, right? There’s no way that what you got in those first two episodes is what [it is], you what I mean? What you see is not what you get with Sam in the best way possible,” she said. “And though I’m sure maybe to some people, they’re like, ‘Femme-forward? How’s that femme-forward?’ Without me giving things away, there’s a twist where who you think was in control actually wasn’t in control. And you start to see senses of it with how I speak to [Jocelyn], of motivating her, of how I remind her of who she is.”
“Really, it’s me, my character, empowering her and other female artists in this show [telling her] basically take what’s yours by any means necessary because they [men in the entertainment industry] do it all the time, you know what I mean? And so that, I think to me, that’s more interesting and why I signed on to do this project. That and nothing else. I’m always looking for if there’s a positive message [in a project], I’m going for it.”
Randolph’s character is another piece of representation within the HBO lineup as well as within Sam Levinson’s various universes of stories. Between Euphoria’s Zendaya and The Idol‘s star/EP Tesfaye, Randolph joins a pantheon of Black characters who are raw and real.
“I feel very blessed at the opportunity,” she said. “Sam, from day 1, allowed me to authentically show up as myself, meaning me the artist, and bringing forth many ideas and bouncing stuff off of one another in a true collaborative spirit experience, and that’s rare in my experience thus far. And with working with other directors, that’s rare, definitely not at that level. So I was hugely impressed and excited that that was available to me. I’m always about visibility and representation, so whenever there’s something compelling and also where someone like me wouldn’t normally show up in that space, you’ve got me 100 percent. I’m diving in.”
She said her goal with the roles she takes on is to represent the underrepresented.
“That’s my mission,” she said. “The more spaces where we’re not seen, I want to go there and be consistent, hopefully, with the quality of my work while being in these [different] worlds.”
As for what she hopes audiences take away from The Idol, Randolph said that the series is a “cautionary tale.”
“It’s an observation of a fly on the wall kind of experience where it’s like, this is what’s out there. It’s all about choices. Choose what you feel…is best for you, and understand if you choose wrong, there’s gonna be consequences.”
The Idol premieres on HBO and Max on June 4.
