There’s only one word to describe the cast of “The Studio:” stacked. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Hollywood satire is filled with so many massive names, each episode is in danger of causing celebrity whiplash. Look, there’s Martin Scorsese! Now there’s Charlize Theron! Bryan Cranston! Zoë Kravitz! Anthony Mackie! Ron Howard!
As huge as these stars are, their fame never compromises the integrity of the Apple TV+ original, which scored 23 Emmy nominations. That balancing act is largely thanks to Rogen and Goldberg, who cashed in several favors to realize their guest-star wish list, as well as Emmy-nominated casting directors Melissa Kostenbauder and Francine Maisler.
“We never were just casting celebrities for celebrity’s sake,” Kostenbauder told TheWrap. “[Each role] was made for them.”
Maisler was responsible for casting the pilot of “The Studio,” which features Scorsese, Cranston, Theron and more. But once production resumed after the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, she was unavailable, so Kostenbauder took over for the rest of the season.
Early on, Rogen and Goldberg knew which celebrities they wanted for each major cameo. Though there was a great deal of interest from talent owing to the reputation of the duo’s Point Grey production company, several of those initial picks weren’t available (Kostenbauder declined to specify who).
“We were going after people who are in such high demand,” she said. So the team
went back to the drawing board, though Kostenbauder noted, “I’d like them to feel like they were all the first choice.” Scripts were rewritten to ensure the story matched each celebrity. That specificity helps “The Studio” feel as in-the-know as the heads of the fictional Continental film studio.
The proof of such hard work can be found in this year’s Emmy nominations. Of the show’s nearly two dozen nominations, 10 are for acting. The casting expertise is most clear in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category, where five of its six slots are occupied by “Studio” stars, including Bryan Cranston, Dave Franco and Anthony Mackie. It also includes one of the most delightful Emmy rivalries in years: Martin Scorsese vs. Ron Howard, as both filmmakers received their first-ever Emmy nods for acting.
“My office would call a director’s agent and they kept trying to forward us, like, ‘We don’t do onscreen.’ And we’re like, ‘We know,’” Kostenbauder said, describing the process of landing buzzy directors (who also included Sarah Polley, Peter Berg, Aaron Sorkin and Zack Snyder) for their roles. “There was a lot of explaining before people finally caught wind of what it was we were trying to accomplish.”
Casting so many big stars in everything from major roles to quick cameos resulted in one of the most challenging projects Kostenbauder has ever worked on. “I’m so happy so many [actors] were nominated. I just wish that they all could have been because I don’t think there was a misstep among them,” she said. “They all brought such a unique side of themselves that we don’t always get to see, and I applaud them for being willing to do that.”
This story first ran in the Down to the Wire Comedy issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the Down to the Wire Comedy issue here.
