Robert Altman’s film The Player (1992), which explores the dark underbelly of Hollywood with its story of an unscrupulous producer, Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), who murders a screenwriter, still resonates more than 30 years since its release. Seth Rogen has clearly seen it more than once, as evidenced by his new Apple series The Studio, which is also a satirical portrayal of Tinseltown’s cut-throat industry culture and features a studio CEO named Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston).
Expectations were high for The Studio and for Rogen, who plays the role of Matt Remick, the newly-minted head of the fictional Continental Studios, and also co-created, co-wrote, and co-directed the series with his long-time producing partner Evan Goldberg. Based on the first two episodes, The Studio has lived up to its promise. Just as The Player represented a comeback for Altman, The Studio elevates Rogen, a former stand-up comedian, to a different level as it fully showcases his ability as a writer, director, and actor. The series succeeds in roasting the filmmaking industry in a manner that is brutally honest but also rip-roaringly funny, which is no easy task.
The Studio works because it is tightly written, fast-paced, and boasts a talented ensemble cast with strong comedic roots, including Kathryn Hahn (Bad Moms), Catherine O’Hara (Home Alone), and Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project). The series is also imbued with verisimilitude in that certain characters are recognizable incarnations of real-life people.
For instance, Matt Remick (Rogen) is promoted from studio executive to studio head because Patty Leigh (O’Hara) was ousted for excessive spending. Rogen has admitted that this storyline was based on the experience of Amy Pascal, the Sony executive who was fired in 2015 for a similar reason and who also served as a mentor for Rogen earlier in his career.
Furthermore, Remick’s reaction to being selected as studio head is also attributed to a real studio executive:
Being the head of Continental is the only job I’ve ever wanted. I’m honored, obviously, to be one of the people that gets to choose, you know, which movies get made and which ones don’t. I got into all this, because, you know, I love movies, but now I have this fear that my job is to ruin them.
Steve Asbell, the current president of 20th Century Fox, reportedly used these exact words in an informal conversation with Rogen.
Remick struggles with the perennial conflict between creating cinematic art and producing a profitable film, as does Rogen, who wants to develop a series that makes meaningful observations about the film industry but also entertains Apple’s viewers.
An early Rotten Tomatoes score of 95 percent approval by critics and 70 percent audience approval is encouraging. After all, the 25-point gap between critics and viewers is not surprising given that the industry loves self-reflection. The series also benefits from its promoted schedule of guest appearances by famous actors and directors, with legendary director Martin Scorsese featured in the first episode. It is additionally refreshing to watch a program that is not blatantly woke.
I highly recommend The Studio as a humorous look at the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Hollywood jungle. Seth Rogen succeeds in his efforts to pose important questions about art versus commerce while still delivering a crowd-pleaser.
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