Who is Amy Seimetz? Sam Levinson controversy explained as The Weeknd issues response over The Idol drama

Canadian singer Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye has responded to the allegations made against director Sam Levinson after Rolling Stone published a news report citing disturbances and turmoil on the set of The Idol.

On March 2, the 33-year-old star took to his Instagram handle to share a scene from HBO's forthcoming series where he and Lily-Rose Depp's character could be seen talking to Dan Levy and mocking Rolling Stone.

He captioned the post:

"@rollingstone did we upset you?"

The Weeknd's Instagram post comes after a report was published by Rolling Stone on March 1. It cited 13 sources close to the show who revealed that The Idol was plagued with last-minute changes and a toxic work environment.

Sam Levinson took over the show following the creative differences that led to the exit of director Amy Seimetz in April 2022. The Rolling Stone report stated that after he took over, he "scrapped the nearly finished $54-75 million project to rewrite and reshoot the entire thing."

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Amy Seimetz is a prominent actor, producer, and director

As per her IMDb bio, Amy Seimtz rose to prominence by directing and producing independent and short films.

Most famously, she worked as an assistant producer on Barry Jenkins' Medicine For Melancholy, which was shortlisted for the Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards after premiering at South By Southwest and the Toronto International Film Festival.

She is known for her acting credits in Alexander The Last, directed by Joe Swanberg and produced by Noah Baumbach, which premiered at SXSW.

Amy Seimetz's other credits include Silver Bullets, Autoerotic, Gabi On The Roof In July, Tiny Furniture, A Horrible Way To Die, The Off-Hours, Open Five, and Myth of the American Sleepover.

Chad Harbold's Tribeca Film Festival premiere Revenge For Jolly starred an all-star cast, including Amy Seimetz. Kristen Wiig, Elijah Wood, Oscar Isaac, Garrett Dillahunt, Ryan Phillippe, Gillian Jacobs, Adam Brody, and Brian Petsos comprised the ensemble cast.

Amy Seimetz reunited with her co-stars Wiig, Dilahunt, and Petsos from the Chadd Harbold short film One Night Only.

In 2012, Amy Seimetz made her directorial debut with the thriller film Sun Don't Shine, which she also wrote, produced, and co-edited.

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The Idol crew members unhappy with tumultuous writing process and script revisions

As for the recent reports about The Idol, several crew members close to the production revealed a tumultuous creative writing process and script revisions that were questionable.

Describing Sam Levinson's vision of the show, a source claimed in the report:

“It was like any r*pe fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show — and then the woman comes back for more because it makes her music better.”

Sam Levinson's absence from the show reportedly made Amy Seimetz's job "impossible" since they had a limited budget and strict deadlines, and because she was a first-time showrunner.

"It’s really frustrating seeing Amy doing her damn best to turn around some kind of product that she can be somewhat proud of to HBO…and then [for HBO] to turn around and have Sam get essentially a blank check to turn it into ‘Euphoria Season 3 with pop stars’ is extremely, extremely frustrating.”

Another source claimed that The Weeknd wanted to reshoot and drop the feminist angle, which was difficult to do since he was majorly on tour.

The rewrites were reportedly violent and extreme, which alarmed some of the cast and crew members.

“It was like s*xual torture p*rn. There is no point. They’re just trying to see how much of a reaction they can get.”

Directed by Sam Levinson, the forthcoming series stars Lily-Rose Depp, a pop star on her journey to fame who comes across The Weeknd's character, who is a night club owner and a cult leader.