‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’: The Weeknd endures emotional turmoil
Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, plays an insomniac musician who goes on an existential journey with a young woman (Jenna Ortega) in “Hurry Up Tomorrow.”
LAS VEGAS – As The Weeknd, musician Abel Tesfaye is electrifying when he hits a stage, whether at the Super Bowl, a stadium full of rabid fans or a room packed with movie theater owners.
He’s also an actor, making his debut in Adam Sandler’s “Uncut Gems,” starring in the short-lived HBO show “The Idol” and being a creative force behind the new psychological thriller “Hurry Up Tomorrow” (in theaters May 16). Tesfaye acknowledges he feels “the rush of performing” in both artistic pursuits.
“The nervousness before performing on stage, it’s never gone away. I’ve been performing 15 years and I still feel nervous before going on. I think that’s a good thing,” Tesfaye tells USA TODAY in an interview at CinemaCon, where he performed his new songs “Cry for Me” and “Open Hearts,” plus the hit “Blinding Lights.” “And I felt that same type of nervousness before acting, before the cameras rolling. So instead of running away from that, I feel like now I’ve embraced it.”
Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY’s movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox.
“Hurry Up Tomorrow” is a companion of sorts to Tesfaye’s album of the same name, though he says the film – which Tesfaye co-wrote with director Trey Edward Shults (“It Comes at Night”) – existed prior to the songs. Tesfaye was “already a fan” of Shults’ work when he came on board and “knew how well he would take care of the music.
“The process was film and then music. It was pretty unique. We got to kind of make it simultaneously.”
The movie features Tesfaye as a fictionalized version of himself, an insomniac musician teetering near a mental breakdown who goes on an existential journey when a mysterious young woman named Anima (Jenna Ortega) comes into his life. A new trailer for the movie released Tuesday showcases its cerebral nature, with dark visual tones and a strong emotional core. (The songs are pretty good, too.)
Shults says Tesfaye is “like family. I love him. So when you work with people you love, it’s super-easy and organic and just works naturally.” Ortega, who’s also a big music fan, calls Tesfaye a “special” sort of artist.
“His music is cinematic. The experience, the music videos, all of that. You could tell that he has a cinephile’s brain,” Ortega says. “I know a lot of people in music who have just created these personas that are so big and bold and scary. And getting to know Abel, he’s kind, very warm and comforting and just almost soft-spoken in a way. It’s almost a strange feeling of, like, you know him and it is represented in his music.”
Leave a Reply