Some actors go method, becoming the person they’re playing, while others don’t think about it that much and just do the job. And then there’s a third kind of actor, the kind who unintentionally become their character and aren’t able to extract themself from the fictional person they’re playing.
That seems like what happened to Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye on the set of his new HBO series The Idol, where he stars as Tedros, a club owner who is not a performer. In an interview with W Magazine, Tesfaye explained that he experienced a “terrifying” moment that left him unable to sing, which he says is due to being so immersed in the character of Tedros.
The moment occurred last September at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, where Tesfaye was performing to a crowd of 70,000, which is a fairly normal part of his routine. But at this particular performance, The Idol‘s production team was also taking the opportunity to film a scene for the show in which Lily-Rose Depp‘s character, a pop star named Jocelyn, introduces Tedros to the crowd.
Working both jobs in one night, Tesfaye said he struggled to toggle between them: “I had to take off the Weeknd outfit, put on Tedros’s wig, shoot with Jocelyn, then go back to being The Weeknd. It was tough to go from one head to another.”
He added, “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,” he proclaimed. “But there was something very complicated going on with my mind at that moment.”
The Idol is Tesfaye’s first big acting role, and it sounds as though the experience has contributed to what he calls “a cathartic path” that has him ready to leave his stage name behind.
“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,” he said. “And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”
The Idol, which has been the subject of controversy throughout its production, will premiere June 4 on HBO.