Everybody loves to bash Hollywood, including Hollywood itself. The latest and most genially barbed takedown comes from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, longtime production partners whose Apple TV+ comedy series “The Studio” starts out by ruining Martin Scorsese’s career in its first episode. It goes on to poke knowing fun at pompous directors, feckless executives, egotistical actors, woke culture, AI, the Golden Globes, CinemaCon and oh, all sorts of other stuff, even pediatric oncologists.
The 10-episode series plays at a breakneck pace and is largely composed of lengthy, uninterrupted shots that required intricate timing between the actors and film crew. The list of notables who play themselves (or unflattering versions of themselves) includes Scorsese, Ron Howard, Sarah Polley, Olivia Wilde, Charlize Theron, Zac Efron, Ice Cube, Adam Scott, Quinta Brunson, Steve Buscemi and many more.
Rogen, who co-directed every episode with Goldberg, plays Matt Remick, a studio executive who’s recently ascended to become the head of Continental Studios, a job for which the socially awkward and perpetually panicked wannabe filmmaker is probably not suited. Ike Barinholtz and Chase Sui Wonders are Sal Saperstein and Quinn Hackett, his VP of production and junior executive, respectively, who frequently battle each other for power. Kathryn Hahn is Maya Mason, the hysterically fiery head of marketing, and Catherine O’Hara is Patty Leigh, the former studio head who’s been pushed out by Continental CEO Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston).
Rogen, Goldberg, Barinholtz, Wonders, Hahn and O’Hara spoke about the program in a series of interviews.
Backstory
Bryan Cranston’s character in “The Studio“ is Griffin Mill, which is the name of Tim Robbins’ character, the studio executive who murders a screenwriter, in the 1992 Robert Altman movie “The Player.“ Is this just an homage to Altman’s movie, or is there a secret backstory in which the 1992 Griffin Mill left the job he had in that movie, moved to Continental Pictures and became an even bigger mogul?
SETH ROGEN Like all great art, it’s up to you. We talked about both and we like the idea of both being a possibility. I think to some of the people who work on the show, it’s the same guy. To others, it’s just an homage. But I could see that guy becoming this guy.
It does track. And Bryan Cranston seems like the kind of guy who could have some skeletons in his closet.
ROGEN Oh, yes. Our Griffin Mill has murdered four people. Vincent D’Onofrio (the victim in the Altman movie) just gave him a taste for blood.
The Setup
You’ve based this to some degree on your experiences in Hollywood. Have you heard from anybody who thinks it hits too close to home?
ROGEN No.
EVAN GOLDBERG There have been a few “So, you did that, eh?”
ROGEN It cuts close to the bone for a lot of people, but in a way they seem to appreciate, even though it maybe is uncomfortably reflective at times. We didn’t want to make a show that was incredibly cynical about the industry, because we are not incredibly cynical about the industry. We like our careers. We work almost exclusively within the studio system, and we’ve found a way to make it work where we feel creatively fulfilled and can weave enough commercial success into that. We don’t believe that studios make no good movies and that the people who make movies don’t care whether their movies are good or not.
GOLDBERG Few industries have people who care so much. It is actually an industry filled with people who could have done something else but who chose this even though it will make them less money and be more frustrated.
ROGEN Like, we know people who work in finance. They don’t care. [Laughs] They just want money and nothing else matters. If you choose to work in movies, most likely you are someone who actually cares.
We didn’t want to make a show that was incredibly cynical about the industry, because we are not incredibly cynical about the industry. We like our careers.
Seth Rogen
The Business
Did anything on the show strike a chord with you from your own experiences in Hollywood?
IKE BARINHOLTZ Oh, yeah. I’ve been lucky enough to work as a writer and a producer and stuff, so I’ve dealt with all kinds of network executives and studio executives, most of whom I think are great and lovely. And then you get some that are maybe not so great [laughs], and you get bad notes once in a while.
CHASE SUI WONDERS I have lots of friends who are just starting out in the industry. They’re like, “[“The Studio” is] actually making me learn a lot about how this industry operates.” It’s like a textbook of Hollywood presented in a 30-minute comedy format. It’s like an online course.
BARINHOLTZ University of Phoenix, the studio!
What was the worst note you ever got?
BARINHOLTZ Oh, man. Gotta dig pretty deep. There’s so many. I got a note from a manager who told me to change my name because it’s too much: Barinholtz. I was like, “I’m 25, I can’t change my name now!” [Laughs]
WONDERS I was deciding between two projects, and I had a friend tell me that I should pick the much less cool project because it was commercial and more broad and more people would see it.
Did you follow their advice?
WONDERS No, I didn’t.
BARINHOLTZ [Laughs] It was “The Studio.”
WONDERS It actually was.
BARINHOLTZ No! Really?
WONDERS It actually was. [Laughs] They were like, “You should do this other project and not ‘The Studio.’” And then we stopped being friends.
BARINHOLTZ Wow. Your friend’s a real dummy.
Catherine, Seth has said your character is loosely based on former Sony chief Amy Pascal. Did that factor into what you did?
CATHERINE O’HARA I asked a few questions about her, and one of the first things I learned was that she had great taste in her movies, in her work, but also great taste in her offices. So then I loved silently taking credit for the beautiful look of this show. The Continental Studios offices are just so beautiful, and I love thinking, that’s my idea. I’m sure there’s other people involved in this character, too, but I didn’t go deep on that because I wanted to go with what was on the page. [To Hahn] Who did you model your character after?
KATHRYN HAHN I would say the same. You just kind of play what’s in front of you. But the costumes helped define her a lot for me. I can’t tell you how many people have said that there are moms at their kids’ schools who come to pick up their kids looking like that. There’s probably a bunch of people who say they see themselves in Maya. They’ve created such an awesome bird.
The Process
You have a premise that seems like it’ll be a lot of fun. But then you chose to shoot it at a breakneck pace with lots of long, uninterrupted takes, which I would think could make it a lot harder. Does that diminish the fun?
ROGEN No, it makes it more fun. And it adds a level of stakes and excitement to every moment. That, to us, is helpful and energizing and exciting. I kept intellectualizing that we were serving the tone of the comedy of the show, but my fear was we were only doing it ’cause we thought it was fun. And then we started to see it put together and we were like, “Oh, good. It is actually doing all that.”
GOLDBERG It would’ve been horrifying if we didn’t have the cast we have. We chose who we chose very specifically, because we needed people who could improv very well to the degree where they knew what would end up in the edit on the day, people who were very talented at hitting their marks and understanding where the camera was. We had two or three moments with actors that did not have those skill sets, and it was very bad. So without the right team, it would’ve been terrifying.
ROGEN You often find the comedic rhythms in the editing room. But we knew we weren’t gonna be able to do that, so we had to have performers that could do it live.
How do you include improv when the takes are long and need to be precise?
GOLDBERG We would rehearse a few times just to get the blocking. The blocking was key and we had to lock that in before we could do anything. Then everyone knew the first four takes were utter rubbish and would never be used, and once we got to (takes) six, seven, eight, people would do a little improv.
ROGEN I would always try to wobble the rhythm of it just a little bit so it didn’t feel like we were doing this perfectly choreographed thing. And we would say to the actors, “If you have a joke that you think is great, just say it. Just know that if it’s not great, you’ve ruined the entire thing. [Laughs] So use your own discretion as to whether or not you feel comfortable.”
BARINHOLTZ You don’t want to be the person who messes up the take, because it’s a big old reset. And then Seth and Evan will judge you in their Canadian way, which is a very polite form of judging. Very docile and kind.
O’HARA It’s all exciting and inspiring and scary and thrilling. You’re looking each other in the eye, like, “Don’t blow it! We got this far, we’re almost done!”
HAHN Panic.
I’d assume that eventually, everybody would mess up a take.
BARINHOLTZ Yes. And that everybody is Kathryn Hahn.
WONDERS Specifically. Every day.
BARINHOLTZ And she would make us mess up, too, because she comes in like a pit bull. They’re like, “Action!” And the dog runs in and goes crazy. Forget it. You’re just gonna start laughing so hard, whatever she’s saying. And then you have to reset.
WONDERS But it’s hard to get mad at Kathryn.
BARINHOLTZ You can’t. Her fans will kill you.
Marty
The use of real industry people is key to the show — none more so than Martin Scorsese, whose dream of making his final movie about the Jonestown massacre is dashed by Matt Remick.
ROGEN We went in knowing we had to get people like that in order to do what we wanted to do. And so, like many things we did in the show, we painted ourselves into corners that we simply had to make work.
GOLDBERG But with Scorsese, we did not think we would get him.
ROGEN It was a great shock. And he was, for the narrative of the episode, the absolute perfect person. It needed to be someone that you believe my character would bend over backwards to work with, that you believe would make these giant, expensive, subversive films that are based on real-life occurrences.
GOLDBERG And then we thought, if he did engage, we would have to do this long dance and woo him. But we heard that he said yes, and then we never met him till the day of shooting.
Were you comfortable saying, “OK, Marty, here’s what we want you to do?”
GOLDBERG You just pretend it’s not him. You think, this is an actor we hired.
ROGEN Disassociation. It’s a dance of getting over your own nerves. And he seemed to think what we were doing was funny. He didn’t try to hijack it, even though if he had, it would have been better.
He didn’t make any suggestions?
GOLDBERG At one point we were filming a moment with him and Charlize [Theron], and he kept muttering something to her. I went over and asked what it was and they said, “Nothing.” And then after it was all done, they admitted to me that he knew we were doing something wrong, but he didn’t want to backseat direct. He was just like, “They’ll get there.” And we did.
ROGEN He could have saved us 45 minutes. [Laughs] Whatever.
The Golden Globes
My favorite moment in the Golden Globes episode is when Matt runs into Netflix’s Ted Sarandos in the men’s room and complains to Ted that none of the Continental winners have thanked him in their acceptance speeches. And Ted says that he puts it in Netflix contracts that people have to thank him if they win awards. Do you think he’s completely secure that everybody will know he doesn’t actually put that in his contracts, or does he just not care what they think?
ROGEN He didn’t seem to care. I think he knew that the people he cared about would know that it was a joke, hopefully understand that he’s not forcing people to name him in their speeches—and if he was, he probably wouldn’t make a joke about it on television. [Laughs]
GOLDBERG I don’t know. If he was doing it, the smartest thing he could do is…
ROGEN …make a joke about it! Be self-effacing about it.
GOLDBERG Yeah. That, like, negates it, right?
Vegas
What was the most fun thing to do in the first season?
BARINHOLTZ The most fun for me was the last two episodes in Las Vegas. I gambled every day.
WONDERS I felt like we were all at camp for gamblers and addicts.
BARINHOLTZ A bad camp.
WONDERS Yeah. Horribly toxic camp. But we all went to the Grateful Dead show, which was very cool. Then we showed up to work hungover and tired.
BARINHOLTZ The scenes were so fun and so insane. And you’re in Vegas. If you’re shooting in L.A. and you wrap at nine o’clock, everyone’s like, “Bye, time to go home.” In Las Vegas, you’re standing in front of a bar and Catherine O’Hara’s like, “Anyone wanna get a martini?”
HAHN Vegas was pretty fun.
O’HARA Ew! [Laughs] I got Covid there. Sorry, Vegas doesn’t seem fun.
Finis
With Hollywood in such tumult these days, is this a good time for a show like this?
ROGEN We conceived of the show during Covid, so there was a moment where we were like, “Is this about an industry that is completely dying?” And then “Barbie” came out and recalibrated the whole course of the industry in some ways, you know? Our own view of the industry kind of changed throughout the time we were working on the show.
GOLDBERG I feel like we hit a shifting moment in the industry, and we timed it very well.
This story first ran in the Comedy issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.
