I absolutely love THE STUDIO, Apple TV’s new show, from a team of writers/producers: Seth Rogan, Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck, Evan Goldberg, and Frida Perez. It’s currently #2 on AppleTV behind SEVERANCE, so it seems to have broad appeal outside the industry and everyone industry adjacent… the population of Southern California. But what makes THE MISSING REEL special to me as a perpetually online person is that it feels like guest star Olivia Wilde is making fun of herself and the supposed drama that happened behind the scenes on her last directorial release, DON’T WORRY DARLING.
For those who don’t know the rumors – Wilde was supposedly difficult to work with on the set of DARLING, which starred Harry Styles, who she was dating at the time. She reportedly fired Shia LaBeouf, originally cast in Styles’ role, although he claims he quit. Additionally, there were whispers that she and star Florence Pugh didn’t get along either. At the time, Wilde was going through a custody battle with her ex, TED LASSO’s Jason Sudeikis, which infamously led to her being served papers while she was onstage at CinemaCon in 2022 promoting this film. The truth is more likely that most folks just hold so much misogyny that they will believe anything negative about a powerful woman in Hollywood. I enjoyed DARLING, but it received mixed reviews and turned off a lot of men for its take on the incel community.
Ok, now that we’ve got that out of the way, Wilde stars as herself in this week’s episode of THE STUDIO, as a director with a contentious relationship with her cast, crew, and the titular studio. Knowing all the background makes it all the funnier for me. As star and co-director, Rogan creates a noir episode around the “missing reel.” Where did it go? Who lost it or stole it? It’s very meta, as most episodes of this show are. I just worry that if you’re not in the know about how films are made, or the very niche knowledge of rumored drama amongst celebrities, you may not be able to enjoy it as much as me.
I can say this is my favorite thing Seth Rogan has ever done. The regular cast of him, Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sue Wonders, and Kathryn Hahn work incredibly well together and are all hilarious alone and within the group of misfit studio executives. The weekly cameos make the show even better. But again, I’m Hollywood adjacent, and I’ve already had a friend in another state tell me he just couldn’t get into it because he doesn’t care about this industry or any of the people showing up to guest star each week.
No matter where you are or how connected or disconnected to the movie-making machine you may be, I hope you give THE STUDIO a chance.
New episodes stream every Wednesday on AppleTV+.
