Sony CEO Tom Rothman admitted there was a “kernal” of truth to how “The Studio” depicts the Hollywood system but “most days we’re not morons.”
In a conversation with Letterboxd, Rothman praised the Apple TV+ series for its comedic examination of Hollywood and how it pokes fun at many of the shot-callers getting movies made. He clarified that while a bit of “The Studio” is always true, most of the show is a fantasy.
“In each one of those episodes, there is a kernel of brilliant, blinding truth, and that’s what makes great satire,” Rothman said. “The show is wonderfully satiric. Besides that kernel, everything else is horse s–t. Maybe some days, but most days we’re not morons.”
He continued: “I did take it with the sense of humor intended. When I took the stage a few months ago at CinemaCon, I walked out and said, ‘Hi, everybody, I’m Seth Rogen!’ which was good for a laugh there. What it gets right is that there’s a fundamental truth of studio executives trying to do the right thing, and there being many, many obstacles to doing [so]. The difference there is it depicts a great deal of moral compromise in pursuing that. That’s not really the way it is. Most people are people like me, who love movies, have a lot of integrity and are just trying to do the best we can.”
“The Studio” stars Seth Rogen as Matt Remick – the new executive of “Continental Studios” – who is a self-proclaimed movie lover who has to walk the line between making the movies he’s genuinely excited about and the ones that will be profitable. Along the way he interacts with a variety of real-life A-listers playing larger-than-life versions of themselves vying to make these movies.
Apple TV+’s “The Studio” cleaned up in the Emmy nominations, earning more than 20 nominations in total. Impressively, in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series the show nabbed five of the six nominations. Bryan Cranston, Dave Franco, Ron Howard, Anthony Mackie, Martin Scorsese and Zoe Kravitz all earned nods for their performances.
Watch the interview below:
