Choreographer Nina McNeely on Earning Sole Nod for The Idol

When the Emmy nominations were announced last week, heads turned when Sam Levinson and The Weeknd’s The Idol scooped up a nomination. And Nina McNeely, who earned the nod for choreography, feels like the axed HBO show deserved more Emmy love.

“Definitely cinematography,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I thought Lily [Rose Depp]’s acting was absolutely incredible. Even the makeup was fantastic on The Idol. I would definitely say directing for Sam. He is really incredible to work with, and even watching him work with the other actors, he trusts them so much and really asks their opinion, and you never know how creatively involved people are on projects like films or television. And that was really cool to see — how collaborative of a director he is.”

The Idol starred Depp as a pop star who falls under the sway of a Hollywood club owner (The Weeknd) and was canceled after one season as it suffered mostly negative reviews from critics and viewership fell short of some other recent HBO shows. “I have a feeling it could be a cult classic down the road — maybe a little ahead of its time or before its time or something like that,” McNeely reveals. “I think it was a really special show. And I think there aren’t many television shows that have kind of a neurotic thriller theme, not since the ’90s at least, so I say we bring them back. I’m ready to see more of that.”

McNeely’s surprise nomination for outstanding choreography for scripted programming — which Levinson’s Euphoria won in 2022 — pits her against popular shows like Only Murders In the Building (John Carrafa), Palm Royale (Brooke Lipton) and Physical (Jennifer Hamilton). McNeely moved to Los Angeles at 18 to pursue her dance career, and her resume is impressive: She’s worked with Rihanna, Björk, Sam Smith, Nick Jonas and Foo Fighters, earning a 2021 MTV Video Music Award nomination for best choreography for the rock band’s “Shame Shame” music video. She’s collaborated with The Weeknd on several occasions — helping her land her gig on The Idol — and she’s also worked as a creative director, visual artist, animator and music video director, helming the clip for Doja Cat’s Grammy-nominated smash “Paint the Town Red.”

Being Emmy-nominated feels life-changing for the versatile artist. “The cool thing is, even if it’s just a nomination, that title can go in front of your name forever,” she says.

In an interview with THR, McNeely talks about working on her first scripted series, hearing from The Weeknd and Levinson about being Emmy-nominated and how dancing for Britney Spears (sort of) helped her prep for The Idol.

How does it feel to see your name up there as an Emmy nominee?

Honestly, I was very pleasantly surprised. But I am just over the moon and so excited and so honored to be recognized for my work, and also to be in the running with the other choreographers because they’re all incredibly talented.

Were you surprised because the show had its critics and people didn’t really expect it to get any nominations?

Yeah, I think partially that was part of it, but also just because that’s the first television show I’ve ever worked on. So I’ve done films, and I’ve done tons of music videos and tours and stuff like that, but I wasn’t expecting it for my first time doing a TV show. But I also knew there were really long takes of the dance and it was such a focus of the episode that my fingers were definitely crossed.

Where were you when you got the news? 

I was just in my bathroom doing my makeup when I saw the news, and I definitely shed a tear or two and called my agent and my family to let them know. It was really amazing.

Have you heard from Sam or The Weeknd since being nominated?

Yes, I did. I got some flowers on my doorstep from Sam and his wife Ashley, which was so sweet with a lovely note. And then I got a text from Abel the other night and we chatted a bit and he thanked me and I thanked him for trusting me and allowing me to be a part of the project. The feedback I’ve been getting and all the congrats have just melt my heart.

How’s it feel to be the sole representation of The Idol at the Emmys?

It’s really exciting. I’m so honored. A lot of times dance is in the background, or you are just such a small aspect of the big picture that sometimes we feel underappreciated in the industry, and in this case, Sam is amazing. He’s so collaborative and so grateful and was thanking me and the dancers constantly for hard work and asking us, showing me takes and asking me what I thought. It was all together a really special experience.

You enjoyed working on the show, so is it a little bumming that it won’t have a season two?

Definitely. Because there’s so much that we could have grown, the experience of the pop star, and so many more dance scenes and so much more choreography that could have gone into it. So I am bummed about that, but still definitely this experience was one for the memoirs and one that I’ll never forget.

Do you want to work on more scripted series? 

Yeah, after that experience, I definitely love to be in that environment again. It was really exciting and thrilling.

You also acted in the series, playing the choreographer. What was that like?

Originally they were going to hire an actor and then one day they called and were like, “Do you just want to do it?” And I was so surprised and I was like, “Uh.” Part of me wanted to say no because it was scary, but I said, “Why not?” And I’ll deal with the nerves when I get there. I didn’t have a bunch of lines that I needed to memorize. They said, “Just be yourself and run the rehearsal you normally would.” So it wasn’t that different from what I normally do, except for the time where I had to stare at a bush and pretend like it was the dancers instead of having the dancers right in front of me, which gave me a lot of respect for when actors have to do that. It’s a really odd feeling.

You’ve worked with The Weeknd on a couple projects — what’s it been like to collaborate on multiple projects?

He is awesome. He is so kind and sweet and so creative. And I love working with any artist that really has a vision and knows what they want. And I feel that with him for sure. We share a lot of the same inspirations from the films we like and music we like, so I’ve chatted with him about that stuff a few times, too. I always know that it’s going to be an interesting and cool project when I’m working with him and that he’s going to be pushing some boundaries and exploring some interesting themes.

What was one of your biggest dance gigs?

Probably my biggest, most memorable dance job was in Britney Spears’ “Gimme More” VMAs performance [in 2007]. That was fun. And also, it was interesting for The Idol, because I’ve been around a lot of pop stars as a dancer and as a choreographer I’ve worked for a lot, so I felt like I had a good amount of experience with what it is to be a pop star. And I’ve been around so many and seeing what they have to go through to really earn that title, which I don’t think people really understand how hard it is and what hard work it is.

And when regular people are tired, we get to go rest or we get to take a day off. They never get to do that and they have to perform a whole two-hour set on stage for hundreds of thousands of people when they have bronchitis or something. Their lives are really hard, and they don’t get much time off and they don’t get much time out of the spotlight. So I have a lot of empathy and a lot of respect for any music artist that has chosen that path because it’s not easy.