The Weeknd says movies have always been his ‘No. 1 passion’

Abel Tesfaye has always known he wanted to pursue a career in cinema. He sees his meteoric rise to fame as one of today’s biggest pop superstars under the moniker The Weeknd as a detour to make that happen.

Nearly two years after he made his acting debut with HBO’s “The Idol,” which he co-created with Sam Levinson, Tesfaye said his latest experimental musical film, which also stars Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan, “brought the joy back into filmmaking.”

“Hurry Up Tomorrow,” hitting theaters Friday, is a kind of companion piece to the final album of the same name released this year in the artist’s record-breaking trilogy.

Tesfaye, 35, spoke with us about retiring The Weeknd, losing his voice onstage in 2022 and lessons learned from making “The Idol.” The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

The Associated Press: How has cinema and long-form storytelling through film influenced you as an artist?

Abel Tesfaye: Cinema, for me, it’s always been my No. 1 passion. And then I happened to sing and make music, and it kind of felt like a little detour.

I always wanted to make movies, and I always want to make music with movies. You always kind of hear and see the DNA of cinema in my albums and my music videos, my performances and my stage. So it’s always just been a part of me.

You come in with this very vulnerable, personal project, and you enlist Trey Edward Shults to direct it. How did you guys navigate that, and why did you trust him?

Well, first and foremost, I was a fan of his work. So I knew that he was gonna, whatever I gave him, he’s gonna make something incredible. But when we met, we just were kind of inseparable. We became really, really close friends and family. And the trust just came natural after that.

Did you always see this as the third part in the trilogy?

It was always the third part, yeah. I didn’t know what I wanted to say at the time, but I knew I was making some sort of saga. But that was more just for myself. Lo and behold, something actually happened to me that I felt like, whatever I had in store, whatever plans I had prior, threw it out the window 110 percent on this story.

How did what happened change your understanding of you as an artist? You said cinema has always been the goal. Do you feel like it kind of helped you see your priorities in some ways?

Absolutely. I mean I was juggling a million things at the time, you know, and I was on tour, dealing with personal stuff as well. But that’s happened before. I was able to still rely on my superpower. You know, I can go on stage, and it’s this cathartic experience with the fans. I can shut my world off for an hour and a half, two hours and just lose myself in my performance. And when it got to a point where the lines were blurring, it was affecting my stage performance. It got to a point where, oh, my God, I can’t give them what they want, my voice is failing me. And I knew at that moment, I needed to sit down and figure out what was going on up there. Because it wasn’t a physical injury.

Did that influence your decision to retire The Weeknd?

That kind of helped it.

So now you’re bringing yourself? Abel is who you want people to know?

It’s not even that. I mean, I’ve always been Abel. The Weeknd’s always been a performance. It felt like I had nothing else to say. I was onstage and it’s like I’ve said everything I can say as this person, and now it’s time for me to take that next step. And this film was kind of like that guiding light for me.