(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
Hollywood is an industry full of sycophants and liars, and if the occasion calls for it, I am one of them.
We have all been there; put on the spot by a friend or colleague about a creative passion project that could do with an edit but you just don’t have the heart or desire to break the truth to them that it sucks. Or, in my case, I watched a screener and tiptoed around the glaring issues when asked for an opinion by marketing (“great gowns, beautiful gowns”).
Of course, off the record, they might share a similar take. On the record, never. Or, the phrase “between you and me” is an invitation into an opinion that is not about their client but someone else. Often juicy, never repeatable.
The Studio is the latest in a long line of inside-baseball looks at Tinseltown and the many contradictory elements that go into greenlighting, making, and releasing television shows and movies—other recent titles include Hacks, Barry, The Other Two, and Only Murders in the Building. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have not only made a streaming comedy that is so funny it makes my face hurt, but also one that plays like an endless blind item.
While Rogen has acknowledged during the press tour that movie executives like Amy Pascal, David Zaslav, and Steve Asbell have influenced characters and even dialogue, the creative team is tight-lipped on who Kathryn Hahn’s potty-mouth marketing head, Maya Mason, is drawing on.
“There’s a tapestry of women which I would think…” Hahn began to answer when asked about the inspiration on Extra. “But there’s sorta one, isn’t there,” interjects a tea-spilling Rogen. Having watched this clip several times, looking for additional clues, it reads as Rogen jokingly throwing Hahn under the bus while underscoring that yes, Maya is no mere invention.
“It’s almost all real and based on things that we’ve either witnessed ourselves, have had happen to us, or we ourselves have done,” Rogen recently said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In one week, he said that three different people yelled at him.
At the time of writing, there is no name attached to Hahn’s May, and perhaps this is a rich tapestry of marketing executives or industry businesswomen, because someone who looks like Rodeo Drive has thrown up on them and uses this many f-bombs might stand out.
Maya is impossible to miss: a hypebeast drenched in Gucci ballcaps, Stüssy football jerseys, and this week’s Kith camo set. She is often the loudest and most profane in the room. As one of the core team of the new Continental Pictures era run by Matt Remick (Rogen), Maya has made her position clear: she is extremely DGAF about anything auteur-driven. “Oh, f--- me. You wanna make a f---ing fancy Kool-Aid movie?” is her response in the first episode to Matt announcing he has Martin Scorsese lined up.
This week, issues arise when Ron Howard’s fictitious new movie Alphabet City has a terrible final act set at a motel that will generate runtime discourse rather than dollars. We have been there many times and will again. “It’s too long. You’ve got to be delulu if you think people are going to watch that,” says Maya. “This is gonna make my job f---ing impossible cause it’s gonna destroy word of mouth.” Later, Maya rants about the financial hit the box office will take due to the length. The motel sequence has to go.
Throughout every impassioned rant, Hahn dials it up to 11, hitting every single comedic beat. Sometimes, she flicks her multiple braids to punctuate a thought. However, one thing is sure: She is not giving Ron Howard the note because no director wants to hear this from marketing. Instead, Maya saves her unvarnished thoughts for the Continental team. “He should not be burdening audiences with his catharsis. Go to therapy. Save us 45 minutes of f---ing runtime,” she says.
While being in these meetings is below my pay grade and job description, I have certainly been privy to conversations in which marketing teams are overusing current slang to appear down with the culture. Perhaps Maya needs to watch the “No More Slay” SNL sketch. While she doesn’t use this word, Maya does utter the phrase “this one is deada-- lit” about an early Alphabet City campaign concept (“There’s Lady Libs” is another cringe highlight). We’ve all been there, and I have definitely thrown out a “this slaps” when I should’ve stayed silent.
Earlier, given how Maya can’t enter a room silently, she cannot help but refer to this “s--- show of a…” when she walks into Matt’s office, immediately switching to high praise when she sees the star and producer is present: “Oh my God. Anthony Mackie, the movie is a masterpiece. I wouldn’t change a f---ing thing.”
When Matt lets her in on Anthony’s hatred of the motel sequence, she reverts to telling Matt to “just give him the f---ing note.” It is a true masterclass in switching between actual opinions and faux sincerity. Maya is such a bulls---ing pro that she says both with the same tone. It is a tone that is instantly recognizable.
An industry of passion and bullshitting stands tall. Sometimes it can be hard to separate the two, but in The Studio, Hahn is dynamite, which is no lie—I promise.
