Earlier this week Abel Tesfaye and Sam Levinson’s electric, pop fantasy The Idol finally premiered at the Cannes Film Festial—the first-ever TV show to do so. Social media exploded, tracking every single detail and move of the show’s sexy cast during the red carpet and after-party. The singer-songwriter and actor Moses Sumney was there experiencing it all firsthand, wearing a custom AMI look that made him feel, simply put, “very hot.” The day after the premiere we got on a call with Sumney, who was “barely standing” after a night out on the French Riviera, to chat all things Cannes, male cleavage a la francaise, and his friendship with Lily-Rose Depp.
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MACIAS: Hi. How’s it going?
SUMNEY: Yo.
MACIAS: Glad to have you on. This is Ernesto from Interview. How’s it going?
SUMNEY: What’s up, Ernesto? What’s popping? I’m so sorry to keep you waiting. I’m barely standing, I would say.
MACIAS: Yeah, I’m amazed that you are awake and are here because I’ve been following the premiere on social media. So, how was the after-party?
SUMNEY: It was fun.
MACIAS: What time did you make it to bed?
SUMNEY: 6:30 a.m.
MACIAS: Oh my god.
SUMNEY: Are you in New York?
MACIAS: I am. I’m in Brooklyn. I’m in my apartment right now before heading to the office.
SUMNEY: Oh, it’s still the morning there?
MACIAS: Yeah, it’s 10:00 in the morning. So, before we get into your red carpet look, is this your first time at Cannes, or have you been before?
SUMNEY: This has been my first Cannes. It’s my first premiere for my first acting job. A lot of cherries were popped last night.
MACIAS: And how do you feel now that you walked the red carpet? All the cameras, how was it?
SUMNEY: I feel good. I feel like the real deal. I feel like I’m a real boy now. [Laughs]
MACIAS: I love that.
SUMNEY: I definitely took some notes for how to do it differently next time, which is my brain. I’m immediately like, “Okay, this is what we can improve.”
MACIAS: You mean on screen or just attending big premieres like that?
SUMNEY: Well, I meant attending big premieres. I have my notes for on screen as well, but I mainly meant-
MACIAS: The whole experience.
SUMNEY: Yeah. It’s just so intense, and you have to be prepared. You’re just walking and stopping, but you’ve got to do it in a way that you’re going to be proud of for the rest of your life.
MACIAS: Were you nervous before hitting the red carpet?
SUMNEY: A little bit and I don’t really get nervous. I hadn’t been, but the morning of I woke really early at 7:30am just because I had anxiety. I was fine all day, and then right before it was like, “Okay, what do we do?”
MACIAS: So how did you calm yourself down? Did you listen to any music?
SUMNEY: I got a massage in the morning.
MACIAS: That’s really nice.
SUMNEY: Got a massage from some French lady, and she was asking me some questions, but I didn’t understand. She was like, “Would you like the [speaks in French]?” And I was like, “Oui.” So, she gave me that, the one-two special.
MACIAS: Did you have anything in your pocket while you were walking down the red carpet?
SUMNEY: [Laughs] You’re like, “Did you have anything in your pocket or were you just happy to see everyone?”
MACIAS: No, I mean, did you have your phone? Did you have a token to keep you safe? Anything like that.
SUMNEY: No. What I had was a bag that I had my film camera in and my phone, and I had this one crystal. I just wrapped a movie last week, my first movie. And the lovely makeup artist Mandy gave me a crystal that wards off evil spirits. So, I had that in my bag because evil’s all around us.
MACIAS: I love that.
SUMNEY: But then, I handed my bag to someone so I didn’t look like a clumsy idiot.
MACIAS: Why don’t you describe your red carpet look to me in your own words. What was the vibe?
SUMNEY: The look was AMI, and they were really wonderful to work with. I worked with Alexandre [Mattiussi] directly on designing it. He had this idea of this shirt that was really long and then would be wrapped around my waist like a cummerbund but really would just be all one piece. And so, he presented that in a pristine fabric. I’m trying to remember what. It was a satin kind of fabric—we ended up on this silk, sheer, black chiffon fabric, Lurex gold threaded into it.
MACIAS: It was really sparkly.
SUMNEY: Yes, because of these threads that it had through it, but it was really just a black silk shirt and the gold threads really brightened it up and brought it to life. I had gold and diamond jewelry from Boucheron, which is I think my first time wearing diamonds which is so crazy.
MACIAS: Were they heavy?
SUMNEY: Actually, the earrings are heavy. I’m still wearing them because I can’t get them out.
MACIAS: Luxury problems. I really like the fact that both of the looks you sent me had a lot of cleavage, male cleavage.
SUMNEY: We love cleavage. We love a titty.
MACIAS: love a titty moment for men on the red carpet. How did you feel once you put on the outfit? What were you giving?
SUMNEY: I felt really hot, and I also felt like it was fun. I am never going to be the guy that shows up in a tuxedo or a suit. I think people have come to know me for black and for a little bit of skin, too. I think that I wanted to dress for the occasion. It is Cannes, the most fancy carpet, but also it’s summertime in the south of France, and it’s The Idol, which is a very sexy show. My character wears some color and stuff that feels eye-popping a little bit and always has his shirt all the way open. I rarely will do an all-the-way-open shirt. I’ll give you a little peekaboo. I felt like I was one of the more fun guys. I always want to do something that feels a little different.
MACIAS: You said that it was your first acting premiere and that you just wrapped a movie. The Idol received a five to six-minute ovation after the screening. How did it feel to see yourself on screen and then that reaction?
SUMNEY: It was so surreal. I don’t even know, to be honest. Thankfully, it wasn’t my first time watching the first two episodes. HBO showed them to me a couple weeks ago. So, that helped me. I was maybe able to more be in the room. It honestly felt really good to watch it with a bunch of people. Because for a TV show, you just don’t think you’re going to get to have that experience to know how a crowd is reacting to certain things live. There’s so much that goes into a TV show. There’s so much that goes into any production, and you don’t think about that when you’re watching it. You think about, I don’t know, the stars. You think about, in this case, the director. It was nice being there with so many of the producers and our very large cast. And at the end of the moment, Sam said, “It feels like we gained a family,” which is so fucking cheesy but so fucking true. So, it was really heartwarming just looking at everyone and thinking about how long the journey has been to get to this point. And getting to celebrate that in fancy clothes was just such a blessing, honestly.
MACIAS: Speaking of family, people are calling you guys the hottest cast in Cannes—
SUMNEY: Wait, are they? Because so have I, but I was hoping I wouldn’t be the only one.
MACIAS: Who did you become closest with from the cast?
SUMNEY: I think I became closest with Lily [-Rose Depp], to be honest. It was my first show, and also I’m not the main cast. The main cast is really just Lily and Abel [Tesfaye]. I just expected to be like, “Hi, nice to meet you. I’ll see you when I see you.” But she was so embracing and welcomed me in so openly and lovingly and was so present, checking up on me not only throughout the production but even up until this weekend. Like, “Did you get into Cannes okay?” I’ve never felt just so welcomed and loved on.
MACIAS: Are you nervous for the public to see the show given the amount of opinions that are floating online?
SUMNEY: No, I’m not nervous, to be honest. It is what it is. I think sometimes people will make their minds up before they’ve given something a chance. And so, in a way we can predict what will happen in this situation. I think the people who’ve decided what their opinion is on it already are probably not going to change it. So, there’s not much to be nervous about there.
MACIAS: If there was one song that makes you think of your character, what song would it be?
SUMNEY: Hold on, because I made a playlist. It would be an Usher song, but not this one. Let me look at the Confessions album. It would probably be “Can U Handle It” by Usher.
MACIAS: Oh, wow. I love that.
SUMNEY: You know the song?
MACIAS: Yeah, I do.
SUMNEY: So, there you go.
MACIAS: You just wrapped a movie. What else is on the horizon?
SUMNEY: I’m in bed, child. I’m in bed. Right now, I am sideways. But I just wrapped MaXXXine. I don’t know if you heard about that.
MACIAS: Yeah, I have heard of that.
SUMNEY: Okay, so that was crazy, because Friday was my birthday. And then, we shot Friday into Saturday, and so we wrapped around 4:00am. I had to be brunette and no piercings for MaXXXine. Oops, spoiler. Literally, photos leaked. It doesn’t matter. By 8:30am, I was in a salon chair. Bleached my hair blond. Shaved my head. And then, by 1:00, I was at the airport to Cannes.
MACIAS: You’re really living the movie star lifestyle.
SUMNEY: I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I might just write some songs now.
MACIAS: How would you describe MaXXXine in three words?
SUMNEY: Decadent, intense, fun.
MACIAS: Do you idolize anyone?
SUMNEY: No, I certainly do not. I said that with a quickness.
MACIAS: You didn’t even think about it. Are you someone’s idol?
SUMNEY: God, I don’t know. You’d have to ask them. I think there are probably some people who look up to me, but I definitely don’t think we should be idolizing anyone. I think celebrity is a disease. So do with that what you will.
MACIAS: Period. This is a question that my coworkers and a lot of people online want to know. But what’s your workout routine? How do you have those abs? Because, crazy.
SUMNEY: That’s very sweet. I work out between four and five times a week, and I just try to stay active and healthy. I do a lot of natural body movement stuff and body weight stuff. I have a trainer, and my brain turns off. I show up and I’m like, “Okay, what do I do?” It’s not machine-driven. It’s about tapping into your actual body and moving, getting close to the earth.
MACIAS: What else are you up to after Cannes?
SUMNEY: I’m going to go to a few parties, and I’m going to go to Paris, and I’m going to see the Beyoncé show.
MACIAS: That’s going to be so legendary.
SUMNEY: Legend. Legendary.
MACIAS: Is there anything else you want to add about working with AMI or your Cannes experience?.
SUMNEY: Ooh. Well, one of the things that you’ll see in the photos that we did, moisturizing is very important to me, deeply, deeply important. We did some lovely skin prep and facials with Charlotte Tilbury, which is worth mentioning because they were very lovely in coming and helping.
