Catherine O’Hara’s death in January came as a shock to everyone — including the production team of “The Studio,” with co-creator Seth Rogen assuring that the show doesn’t ignore her absence in Season 2. In fact, moving forward without O’Hara has been tough for all involved.
“Obviously, emotionally, dealing with the loss, but also when it comes to the show itself,” Rogen told The Times of London. “We wrote it for her to be there. We had it all set and the shock waves permeate throughout the entire new season. It’s been difficult. You worded it better than we could — she was the anchor and now the anchor is gone.”
Coping with the loss of O’Hara, who died January 30 at age 71 after a private battle with rectal cancer, “has been an unbelievable challenge,” Rogen’s co-creator Evan Goldberg also told the outlet.
“If anything,” Rogen explained, “we’re acknowledging the idea that we are a little anchorless. But, honestly, that is a part of life and what we all experience. And so while we try to not dwell too much on heavy themes in this show, they will be there in this second season. We are not ignoring it.”
O’Hara starred on the series as Patty Leigh, a mentor to Rogen’s character and former studio head turned producer, modeled partially after former Sony head Amy Pascal. “We just wanted her to think we were funny,” the actor said of O’Hara, who was known for her own comedic performances.
Rogen paid tribute to O’Hara when accepting her posthumous Actor Award in February.
“Something that I’ve just been marveling at over the last few weeks was really her ability to be generous and kind and gracious, while never, ever minimizing her own talents and her own ability to contribute to the work that we were doing,” he said from the stage. “She knew she could destroy, and she wanted to destroy every day on set.”
Rogen, who had already won an Actor for Outstanding Male Actor in a Comedy Series earlier in the evening, shared that he and longtime partner Evan Goldberg would often receive emails from O’Hara rewriting scenes they’d written for her — though they didn’t want any other “The Studio” stars thinking they could get away with the same.
“‘Hello, I hope you’ll consider the following,’ and then there would be a completely rewritten version of the scene,” Rogen said of the emails. “Literally 100% of the time, it made not just her character better, but it made the scene better and the entire show better as a whole.”
