LAS VEGAS − Abel Tesfaye, the musician known as The Weeknd,is a certified smash.
Tesfaye, the movie star, is more of an unknown commodity.
Audiences get to see both at work in the psychological thriller “Hurry Up Tomorrow” (in theaters now), a metafictional tale of a pop superstar dealing with the complexities of fame and celebrity. The movie is a companion project to The Weeknd's album of the same name (released in January), even as Tesfaye looks to be moving into a new phase of his creative life.
Tesfaye loves that partnering on the film – his first – with co-writer/director Trey Edward Shults (“It Comes at Night”) allowed him to focus his artistry. “With all my past work, the music video is when I'm always kind of micromanaging everything. And it was the first time I got to just do my job and be an actor,” Tesfaye tells USA TODAY in an interview alongside Shults and co-star Jenna Ortega.
“Hurry Up Tomorrow” the album is the third part of the ”After Hours” trilogy for the R&B/pop singer/songwriter, who has headlined the Super Bowl, won four Grammy Awards, nabbed a Guinness World Record and topped charts with hits like “Blinding Lights,” “Can’t Feel My Face,” “Starboy” and “Heartless.”
The concept for the movie “Hurry Up” existed well before the music. After pitching the story idea to Shults, Tesfaye sent him song demos, unfinished material and references from older songs that the director would put in the script. “It was amazing,” says Tesfaye, 35, who had a cameo in Adam Sandler's "Uncut Gems" and starred in HBO's short-lived "The Idol."
Tefaye stars in the movie as a fictionalized version of The Weeknd struggling in his professional and personal lives after a painful breakup. His coke-snorting, hype-man manager Lee (Barry Keoghan) enables Abel's toxic, self-destructive narcissism, but after Abel's voice fails him during a sold-out concert (which happened to the real Tesfaye in 2022), he meets a mysterious young woman named Anima (Ortega). Feeling an instant connection, they enjoy a night of Santa Monica Pier rides and deep conversation, which leads to a harrowing journey of self-reflection on Abel's part.
Like the album, the movie "Hurry Up Tomorrow" builds to the title track. A key scene when the on-screen Abel needs to be the most honest with himself “originated with a monologue in the script and then a song was also required,” Shults recalls. “So Abel wrote this song, and I was like, ‘Well, we don't need the monologue anymore. Get that out of here!’ ”
Akin to Shults, Tesfaye found another like-minded collaborator in Ortega. He says he was “blown away” finding out the actress was a fan of Daniel Lopatin, the electronic musician also known as OPN, who co-composed the film’s score with Tesfaye. “I was like, that's a deep cut. She has real taste. And that was an incredible sign for us.”
As a music lover, Ortega was excited to be part of a movie that blends the sonic and the emotional. (She also gets her own music moments, including singing in the shower.) Her character represents “this sensitive side” of Tesfaye “that he maybe didn't feel like he got the opportunity to show so often, in a delicate way,” she says.
Tefaye's music is "so much deeper and darker" than it sounds, Ortega adds. “The lyrics are always very profound or very isolating, and they resonate with a lot of people. And I love the juxtaposition of this music that you'd hear in a club, but then also that feeling that you have on the car ride back.”
Tesfaye’s bold and electric presence on stage and screen is an intriguing counterpoint to the thoughtful and soft-spoken man who sits for a chat about his movie. (When someone pays him a compliment, he beams with politeness and humility.) Ortega points out that Tesfaye has “a cinephile’s brain,” and while music has long been a passion for the Canadian-bred son of Ethiopian immigrants, “my first love was always film,” says Tesfaye, who’s on tour now as The Weeknd. Telfaye used music to “get me closer to making movies,” and he would “implement the DNA of cinema in my music videos.”
“So The Weeknd, to me, is just one long film that was like a never-ending 15-year movie. Now I feel like I got to the end of it, and I'm starting this new journey with these incredibly talented artists.”
Wherever he goes from here, it’ll probably sound great.
