← The Prestige TV Podcast
Loading summary
Transcript150 lines
- [00:00]
Unknown Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by Lionsgate. From the world of John Wick comes the movie Ballerina. Only in theaters June 6th. The greatest action franchise of the past decade is back, starring Ana de Armas and Keanu Reeves returning as John Wick. Everything youg Love is here. The mythology, the characters, the high intensity action. But this time the universe expands with new faces, new settings and even higher stakes. Ballerina, Only in theaters June 6th. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card One of the most useful things in my life lately has been my Apple Card. It's great for game nights, vacations, just life in general. And applying was so easy and quick. You can apply, see your credit limit offer, and then start using your card in minutes. Do it while you're watching a basketball game and you can start making purchases before halftime even rolls around. I also love how I can get up to 3% daily cash back on every single purchase. That's more money for game tickets. I feel like I scored big time when I started using Apple Card. Applying the wallet app on your iPhone and start using it right away with Apple Pay. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch terms and more@applecard.com.
- [01:26]
Sean Fennessey
I'm Sean Fennese and this is the Prestige TV podcast. I'm here with Craig Horlbeck, producer of the Town podcast. And I'm here with the host of the Town, Matt Bellany, also the star of the series the Studio, which is the show we'll be talking about today.
- [01:41]
Matt Bellany
Star. Yes, put star in scare quotes, please. Appropriately put that into context. I am not the star. I appear in exactly two scenes as myself. I am on the I that you hear my voice a lot more, but I am actually physically only in two scenes.
- [01:58]
Sean Fennessey
Well, we're going to talk about episodes nine and ten, the final two episodes of this Apple TV plus streaming series. We talked about the show earlier this season with Bill Simmons and Joanna Robinson, and then Craig and I recapped the next five episodes. And so we're here to talk about the end of this series, which has been a lot of fun. And I think the accuracy and ideas of the show are something we'll dig into. But Matt, even if you're not the star of the show, you've had a pretty damn significant role for a journalist on a series like this. I know a lot of people in my life have been like, what the hell? Matt is really on the studio. This is not a fake thing.
- [02:33]
Craig Horlbeck
Well, and the joke is that I would say most people 99% of the people watching the show assume Matt is probably an actor and that the Town is a fake podcast.
- [02:41]
Matt Bellany
Yes.
- [02:41]
Sean Fennessey
Well, especially because of his striking good looks and, you know, that deep voice.
- [02:44]
Matt Bellany
Absolutely. Absolutely, yes. No, it was just as weird to me as it is to everybody else. It started with Seth just saying, we want your voice. We thought it would be funny if my character listens to the Town and if you kind of talked about him, as I often talk about studio executives on the Town, sometimes critically, sometimes I will criticize their choices that they're making and they thought that would lend an air of authenticity to the show. He told me that they were going to have, you know, dozens of real life cameos in the show and that this would just add to the realistic aspect of it, which made sense to me. The surprise was about a month later, after Craig and I had sent over some audio recordings, was he then came back to me and said, actually, you know, we're thinking that you might be in this world as yourself. And that to me was a little more surprising. But then as they explained that the final two episodes would take place at CinemaCon and that there would be this whole fear of being busted by someone, that it made sense that they had set me up earlier in the show as kind of this watchdog type, that they would bring me back and I would physically be there.
- [03:57]
Craig Horlbeck
And we should say we just had the. The Town just had Seth and Evan on whenever you're listening. We had it on a two parter on May 22 and May 23 where they talk all about the behind the scenes nature of the studio. So definitely go listen to that. But yeah, Seth was basically like, I wanted it to feel real, and Matt is the one who I would be most afraid of to see in that situation. So we just asked Matt to be.
- [04:20]
Matt Bellany
There, which is hilarious because, like, Seth is one of the good guys. Like, I've always loved Seth. He has made great stuff since he was 18 years old. Like their company, Point Gray is doing really cool things. Everything from the boys to like, trying to do theatrical movies like Joyride and they did blockers, which I really like. So Seth is not someone that I would ever really criticize. He doesn't do dumb stuff, but whatever, it's funny.
- [04:46]
Sean Fennessey
It's not Seth. It's Matt Remick. That's the thing. And Matt Remick is a complete and total buffoon, as we learned. I mean, just before we start talking about the show, Matt, I mean, you're giving a performance, you're asked to act in this. Do you have any acting experience? Like, what was it like being on set, being asked to do that work alongside Catherine o' Hara and Seth Rogen and Chase Sui Wonders, like, real, real actors.
- [05:07]
Matt Bellany
That was the freaky part, honestly, because I have never acted before outside of, like, my college summer camp, Friday night plays and things like that. I do a lot of tv, just talking head stuff where I go on and commentate and you know that I'm, like, not afraid of a camera, but playing myself. Like, come on, I can do that. You know, the biggest pain in the ass was I had to get there to Vegas from. I was in South Carolina with my family for vacation. I had to go there twice during the summer and be there in living in the hotel with all of them. They were there for, like 16 days, I think, in a row, living at the Venetian and working all day and night there. And if they went outside, it was 110 degrees in the summer. So, like, that's. They're the real heroes. I was only dropping in and out a couple of times.
- [05:56]
Craig Horlbeck
Well, and it was harder for you as an actor because as Seth and Evan were saying on the town, I'll stop mentioning it after this. But the average take Seth said was about 16 takes per oner. But because the casino situation was so chaotic and they kind of couldn't really do that with Matt's scenes. They only got four. So Matt had to nail it in 1/4 of the time as most of the other actors.
- [06:17]
Matt Bellany
But I was four times more impatient than most actors. I was like, all right, we got it. We got it, right? No, one more time. Okay. Like, I can't even imagine doing this stuff 15 times. Like, it's just. It would be infuriating. But I've had producers text me. I was one specific producer who was just like, I can't believe they did this. I can't believe they shot a comedy in this style. Because it's so hard to set up shots like this and not have something fuck it up in each one. And then when you add in that, you're trying to capture comedic timing of all of these different actors. And there are sequences where they're all running down the hallway and you gotta catch, you know, something funny that Catherine o' Hara slips in. You know, you got to catch something, you know, a facial expression by. By Ike or someone lobbing in a line from the side or Cranston with his underwear on. All of that stuff has to work in the take. I can't imagine how difficult that is.
- [07:13]
Sean Fennessey
Well, you made it look easy. I was very impressed by your performance. You know, when Craig and I last spoke about the show, we were talking about sort of the direction that it was heading. And Craig had watched ahead, I had not. And I had been wondering whether the show was going to try to circle the square thematically on anything, or whether this was just going to be more of a curb your enthusiasm sty, where we're sort of like there's buffoonish figures at the center of it and they're constantly being stymied. So in this final two episodes, the entirety of it, as you said, takes place at Cinemacon in Las Vegas, which is an annual trade show that the theater owners of the world put on with the studios. The studios present their wares to the theater owners and they talk about the future of the business. The three of us were just there together recently.
- [07:54]
Matt Bellany
We sat next to each other during these wonderful presentations where after each one I would literally go gladiator style, put my thumb up or down on the movie.
- [08:05]
Sean Fennessey
You did. It's a fun show. I remember vividly telling Bill Simmons that I was going to go to Cinemacon, I think back in 2018, and he literally was like, what the fuck is that? Lo and behold.
- [08:14]
Matt Bellany
Well, that's why it works, honestly, on the studio, because I was telling Seth this. It's one of the only places where the studio executives are the stars. They are expected to to sing and dance and jazz hands their way through these presentations. And it does matter. Like these theater owners, they are evaluating these movies and the media is all sitting there. Oh, back in the day it was just a big backslapping operation for studio heads and the theaters. Now the media is judging these trailers immediately and posting on social media. And there is consequences if you so and so if you so called floppy. At Cinemacon, the famous example I saw was the initial Wonka footage that they put out of Timothee Chalamet singing. And it was bad and out of context, it just did not work. And they had to work really hard to recover from that bad footage. They did. And the movie opened a year or two later. But like there are consequences if you do it. So it's the perfect setting for something like the studio because nobody knows what it is and they can immediately set it up as being this huge deal.
- [09:19]
Craig Horlbeck
And I would say the presentation was more or less the Continental Studios presentation, like was kind of more or less what it is. I mean, it was much shorter than a usual studios because you know, it had to be. But I thought it was pretty accurate. You know, it's an actor coming out, teasing a clip. They show a clip and then somebody else comes out. I thought they. The actual presentation itself, they didn't really get into, like, the other parts of CinemaCon, which is like 10,000 white guys walking around casinos.
- [09:42]
Matt Bellany
Yeah, but I thought going to steak dinners and perusing the latest innovations in hot dogs and ices.
- [09:49]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah. I don't know. Maybe they see it. Maybe they made it seem a little more sexy. Are celebrities staying and partying up in the penthouse or. No.
- [09:56]
Matt Bellany
I mean, we went to the 824 party that. Were there celebrities. They're not really.
- [10:00]
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, you, Matt, what are you talking about?
- [10:02]
Matt Bellany
You're the star of the studio.
- [10:04]
Craig Horlbeck
There were chocolates there.
- [10:05]
Matt Bellany
There were no. There was no old school Hollywood buffet at the. At the A24 party.
- [10:10]
Sean Fennessey
No, but if that is the extent of the outlandishness that was portrayed, it's pretty modest. I mean, this show kind of through and through, through 10 episodes, I think often eerily nailed the nature of the business. Even though the circumstances that Remick and his crew found themselves in seemed ridiculous. There was a level of accuracy to the way that they executed on the show. Just the fact that they shot this in Vegas. Likewise with the Golden Globes episode, shooting it where the Globes take place. The idea of kind of filtering in the celebrity talent while also having this kind of herculean production style, I thought it was, like, pretty amazing as an accomplishment of TV making the show itself. I was wondering if you guys feel that the show kind of lived up to the promise of what it was meant to be, which, you know, when. When Bill was talking about the show at the early stages of it, he was saying, like, oh, it's like the Player, the Robert Altman film, or Larry Sanders as some comp points. And then as Craig and I were talking, we were really more locating it more in the vein of, like, curb your enthusiasm. Like a little bit more of a cringe comedy. Maybe some Nathan Fielder in there as well. This idea that, like, there's no real hero at the story. So when we get to the end of the first season, like Craig did you feel, like, delivered on what it was being sold as?
- [11:21]
Craig Horlbeck
I think it kept in line with the direction the show was going in. I actually appreciate that they didn't suddenly shift to some emotional arc or some character resolutions. It kind of. They just cranked up the. The absurdity went full screwball, full physical comedy, which to me, based on the prior eight episodes, is what I wanted and they just turned that up to 12.
- [11:43]
Matt Bellany
I thought from the first couple episodes that it would be more of a through line show where the whole season would be the ups and downs of the Kool Aid movie and him putting together his slate and there would be a lot more office intrigue and people backstabbing and things like that that you might expect to see on more of a sitcom style show. They really went episodic with it where every episode was another vignette in the life of someone who would run a studio. And I mean, Seth and Evan said this to me. They're like, yeah, we wanted it. We want every episode to have an idea. This is the episode where this happens. And it was all based on their experiences. And that to me does make sense. I like that the final two episodes sort of bring it all together. You see characters that have been in previous episodes, all the movies that have caused them such problems over the whole series are now like being marketed and set up. And they're talking about, you know, their, their big tent pole property, Kool Aid that everybody six episodes ago was freaking out about. And there's no mention of how the casting might be racist, which we saw them debating. And like all of that is just sort of smoothed over and forgotten. And now they are in full cell mode, which is completely accurate about the business. Is that at a, at a selling moment like this, Cinemacon, that's the focus. Like that. It's all there.
- [13:07]
Sean Fennessey
One of my favorite takeaways from the final two episodes was the very clear delineation between executives and folks who work behind the scenes and the talent. And what we saw in the ninth episode was that the talent, Dave Franco, Zoe Kravitz, both very, very funny in these two episodes, get incredibly high. One on purpose, one accidentally, but they both get incredibly high and are asked to do the same thing that Matt Remick and Griffin Mill and the marketing team are asked to do, which is perform for the theater owners. And even though they're out of their minds off of mushrooms and alcohol, they both nail their performances. And when it comes to the executives, they're kind of buffoonish and they have to kind of like grit their teeth and power through it, which, you know, I think is in some ways a very self satisfactory way for Seth Ro this story as a performer himself. And yet, like, I think he's kind of right on, which is like the power of Hollywood in many ways is driven by who you want to see and whether or not they can do the job effectively in front of the camera. What did you guys think about the way they framed that?
- [14:09]
Matt Bellany
Does this make you wonder how many of the people we saw at Cinemacon were high on mushrooms?
- [14:15]
Sean Fennessey
It's in play, right? Like, there's gotta be at least one.
- [14:19]
Craig Horlbeck
Everyone at the Superman presentation, I think.
- [14:21]
Matt Bellany
Yes, exactly. No, the best part about the studio was the Cinemacon presentations were short. I mean, that. No executives interviewing talent, which is just like a dagger in the heart. You can't. You can't endure that. But I don't know, I appreciated that the. The talent ultimately wins on this show. And that's sort of the. One of the. Through lines.
- [14:42]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah. It's like Seth and Evan are making sure everybody knows that the talent is still the most important part of all of this and that they're the ones who nail it when you need them to. And I love that. I love the little subtle note of the. Of Catherine Oharas character, Patty Lee, being like, I only speak with a teleprompter. I wonder if there are executives who are like that.
- [14:57]
Matt Bellany
Oh, of course. And she gets out there and she, like, forgets the movie that made her want to get into the business.
- [15:05]
Sean Fennessey
Well, the best part about that joke is that the star that she loves has the same last name as her protege. Lee Remick and Matt Remick. That was just a genius stroke of writing in that episode. I think I was just generally astonished by how close they got to Cinemacon. You know, this thing that. And consistently throughout the show, I think they showed us things that the three of us having a little bit more access, living in Los Angeles or being proximate to the business. No. Are as commonplace. But that you really get thrust into this world in a really. A much closer way than you would, honestly, just reading your newsletter, Matt, or reading the trades or something like that. Like the idea of visualizing this world, authenticating it in some way. I think people really like that. And when we talked about whether or not, like, Joe TV watcher was going to care about the show, my take on that was that they would like it. The same reason that they like hospital shows and that they like legal dramas, because you are just plunged into this environment. Sure, they're using lingo and they're saying names you may not be familiar with, but as long as the action is moving forward and you're invested in the characters and what they're doing, it's going to work. I don't know. What did you think about that, Matt?
- [16:08]
Matt Bellany
There's a lot that the show gets right. There's some things that someone who watches this stuff very closely. You quibble with the globes, for instance. Yes. They use the Beverly Hills International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton. At the actual Globes, the tables are much tighter together. That is a much more packed room. The Globes would never let you put a speech into a table.
- [16:31]
Craig Horlbeck
It's such a specific niche complaint.
- [16:33]
Matt Bellany
It is. Well, that's not a complaint. I'm just saying the Globes would never let you put a speech into a teleprompter.
- [16:40]
Sean Fennessey
We were wondering about that.
- [16:40]
Matt Bellany
Yeah, the main award shows would never do that. They want spontaneity. Some. Maybe some of these bought and paid for show shows where you're, you know, they're not real shows. That would never happen. You know, most production, as we know and we write about a lot, most production is not in L. A. So a low budget indie movie like the Sarah Pauli movie probably wouldn't be shooting at a big fancy house in the hills. But whatever, maybe it would. We don't know that. You know, there's lots of little things. Cinemacon is at Caesars, not at the Venetian. Yeah, but whatever. They could. They don't have canals at Caesars.
- [17:15]
Craig Horlbeck
The broad strokes of it, I think they nailed. It's a delicate balance of, like, it being episodic. I kind of think even with the final two episodes, you could kind of just watch those two and still generally get a sense of what the show is.
- [17:27]
Matt Bellany
Oh, for me, think about me filming it. I had no idea what the entire season entailed, and yet I was in these final two episodes and I pretty much got it. I got that they were there to sell their movies. And these were all the movies from the season. And. And you know, they had to protect themselves from me or else they would get sold. Like, that's, that's the premise.
- [17:49]
Craig Horlbeck
And I do think the average movie and TV fan is more literate now just for a multitude of reasons about, like, the goings on in Hollywood. So a lot of the, like, broader topics that I think the show crafts episodes around, I think they're pretty understandable. I mean, you're really. You're probably not watching the show unless you care about movies and TV at least a little bit. And if you do, I think they do a pretty good job of making everything seem somewhat approachable and understandable.
- [18:11]
Matt Bellany
It's broad enough, for sure.
- [18:12]
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, I generally agree. I was wondering, Matt, if you could diagnose something that Craig and I also discussed, but just sort of, what is Continental, the studio that's at the center of the story, the pushing narrative at the end of this season is that Cranston's character Griffin Mill, reveals to Matt Remick that Amazon is circling Continental Studios for a potential acquisition. They're about to be MGM'd, as he says in the show. So, you know, my read on this was that it was sort of a Paramount style studio, kind of an old studio.
- [18:42]
Matt Bellany
Yeah, you could say it's Paramount. They have the big traditional lot. They actually filmed it on the Warner's lot and they took over the Warner Brothers Television offices and then recreated it in that kind of art deco style. So that building does not actually exist as it is portrayed. But they use the Warner Television area. It's a mix of Paramount and I might say something like Lionsgate, which is funny because Lionsgate is the studio on the show. They produce it for Lionsgate Television and Apple tv. But only because Lionsgate could soon be sold. They just split off from stars. They are now their own entity. And the goal of doing that is to convince some tech company or some other to buy the studio for its library and production capabilities. But I think they want us to think that it's more like a Paramount, a once great studio that is part of the original Hollywood legacy of the 20s and 30s that has kind of fallen into tougher times.
- [19:44]
Craig Horlbeck
And. And Catherine o' Hara's character has that great line to open the final episode where she's like, so all of Continental will become a branch of a tech company. It's like all the self references and.
- [19:56]
Matt Bellany
You'Re watching it on Apple tv.
- [19:57]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah, it's.
- [19:58]
Matt Bellany
Yeah, I know, it's pretty fun. I guarantee the Apple people probably winced a little of that. But I love that also that they tried to convince Seth to put Tim Cook into the show instead of Ted Sarandos from Netflix, which would have been so bad.
- [20:14]
Sean Fennessey
It's a wonderful tidbit that I think reveals, honestly, Seth and Evans power, the fact that they were able to overrule that and keep Sarandos in this show, which is so fascinating because not only are Apple TV and Netflix competing in some ways though I guess maybe Netflix is pretty far out front.
- [20:30]
Matt Bellany
Apple would love that.
- [20:33]
Sean Fennessey
The idea that I have a little bit of an issue personally as a movie freak with Seth and Evan taking their extraordinary power and creativity and dumping it into a streaming service show about how much they love movies, but also I understand that there's probably no movie studio that was going to make a 50 $75 million movie about a movie studio.
- [20:54]
Matt Bellany
And so no way.
- [20:55]
Craig Horlbeck
There weren't many TV studios. They said HBO passed on it. They could hardly get the TV show made.
- [20:59]
Matt Bellany
Yeah, and it doesn't get made unless Seth is starring and that cast is attached like nobody is going to. Because this is not a cheap show, right? I mean, trust me, I was there on the set. It was a full freight TV show shot like movie style. And they probably spent, I mean, I don't know the actual numbers, but they probably spent 10 to $12 million per episode on this show.
- [21:19]
Unknown Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by the Home Depot. It's time to make your yard the best on the block with Memorial Day savings at the Home Depot. Tackle those weeds with high quality mulch that will help maintain soil moisture. Now just four for $10. And give your in ground plants the nourishment they need with Miracle Gro garden soil feeding them for up to three months while improving your existing soil. Now four for $10. Give your neighbors yard envy all summer long with Memorial Day savings going on now at the Home Depot.
- [21:52]
Craig Horlbeck
One of the other potential inaccuracies I wanted to ask you guys about. I mean, if, if a studio was potentially getting sold, the Cinemacon presentation would not matter at all. No matter how good the presentation was, that would not prevent or increase the likelihood of a sale.
- [22:09]
Matt Bellany
No, no. But if a movie was a massive hit, like a Barbie style hit, maybe they wouldn't.
- [22:16]
Craig Horlbeck
Or maybe they in a sneak preview is not going to change.
- [22:20]
Sean Fennessey
It's not.
- [22:20]
Matt Bellany
But no.
- [22:21]
Sean Fennessey
I mean, just to use Matt's example of Lionsgate, for example, there was not a pretty preview of the forthcoming Hunger Games movie from Lionsgate at Cinemacon, but there was a lot of energy and discussion around the forthcoming adaptation.
- [22:34]
Craig Horlbeck
They did announce a logo.
- [22:35]
Sean Fennessey
They announced a logo and they've spent the last six weeks in.
- [22:39]
Matt Bellany
Which got a thumbs down for me.
- [22:41]
Sean Fennessey
But they've spent the last six weeks announcing casting. And one of the reasons why I think they're doing it this way is they're trying to identify the value of the property under the banner of the studio, which is ultimately what I think those characters are trying to do in this episode. And is Blackwing actually a future franchise for a studio that could be acquired by a streaming giant?
- [22:59]
Matt Bellany
Well, that's the funny part, is that Craig, you said it wouldn't matter.
- [23:02]
Craig Horlbeck
Would that make it more likely to be sold?
- [23:04]
Matt Bellany
I was going to say a great slate coming up could be a reason.
- [23:07]
Craig Horlbeck
Right.
- [23:08]
Matt Bellany
They get sold because they're trying to pump up the value of the. Of the. Whoever is going to buy them. You know, they want to make it seem more valuable than maybe it is. Lionsgate did that all the time. They've been talking about the John Wick universe and Warner's is doing the same thing right now. They did all these deals for Lord of the Rings movies that may or may not happen. They're talking about making Harry Potter's, you know, for the next 10 years. Like this is all so that people out there looking at the value of these companies might say, oh, maybe we should pay that extra billion to acquire Warners.
- [23:39]
Craig Horlbeck
Which. It would be a funny way to start season two if they found out that Amazon hated the presentation and thought it was a disaster and are no longer going to acquire.
- [23:47]
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, it would be a smart way to show us Matt's continued naivete though, that thinking he would nail his slate would somehow avoid being acquired when in fact obviously it would benefit him.
- [23:57]
Matt Bellany
Well then you might end up in like a producer's style situation where they're trying to make bad movies in order so that they don't get bought.
- [24:05]
Sean Fennessey
Yeah, that does seem that.
- [24:06]
Matt Bellany
And then they end up hits.
- [24:07]
Sean Fennessey
That feels very season two to me. Speaking of that, like, what do you guys expect? Obviously the show's been renewed, it's coming back. Would they dare start making a show about what happens when a streaming service buys your movie studio?
- [24:19]
Matt Bellany
I think that's a season three or four type scenario. They got a little bit more to go with being independent. I think Seth said they want to do a film festival episode with me. Maybe because we were joking when we were on set about how we were at the venetian and he's like, oh, what if we went to the real Venice and they, they. What did he say? He wants to do a test screening episode. Smart about test screening. And you know, they have a lot.
- [24:46]
Craig Horlbeck
Of singular topics still left that they can have as like these little contained episodes. You can do a strike. You can do that. He was talking, Seth mentioned like theme parks for a movie IP and a premiere. The Oscars. There's still a bunch of stuff you can do.
- [24:58]
Matt Bellany
Yeah, the this, the stars, obviously they can get whoever they want. Now he said that Spielberg reached out like he knows him from the Fabelman's. So like there will probably be a Spielberg episode.
- [25:09]
Craig Horlbeck
I would love like a Tom Quinn who's the head of neon, a Tom Quinn like character. Like when they're in Venice or Cannes or whatever, the self righteous film lover kind of out cinephiling Matt and making him jealous as like this guy's the actual guy trying to save cinema.
- [25:23]
Matt Bellany
And it could. It could actually be Tom. He's pretty funny, and he's won the Palme d' or five years in a row. Like, this could be, like, you fudged me. You're winning the Palme d' Or. You're taking it away from me.
- [25:32]
Craig Horlbeck
And, like, I want the. Like, it's like the Bizarro Seinfeld crew, where it's like, I want, like, a neon version of the Continental crew, but they all actually love, like, saving movies.
- [25:41]
Matt Bellany
Oh, the action news crew and anchorman, like their rival. Their rival news crew.
- [25:45]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah. For a Mexican standoff. Yeah.
- [25:47]
Sean Fennessey
With respect to Continental, Lionsgate has, I don't think, ever competed for the Palme d' or, and so I'm not sure if that would be totally realistic, but.
- [25:54]
Matt Bellany
No, they did. They did win Best picture for about 17 seconds with LA La Land.
- [25:59]
Sean Fennessey
That is true. That would be a lot of fun. So, okay, we're at the end of this season. I think we all agree it's broadly been a success and a lot of fun, and it was, for me, a little bit different than what I was expecting. But they delivered from the beginning to the end on celebrity cameos from Scorsese and Charlize and Buscemi in episode one all the way through till the finale. Craig, did you have a favorite? Who did you think did the best job as themselves in this show in.
- [26:27]
Craig Horlbeck
Terms of performance or who was playing themselves the most accurately?
- [26:30]
Sean Fennessey
Well, why don't you do both?
- [26:33]
Craig Horlbeck
I think the performance. I think you have to give it to Zoe Kravitz for just, like, the amount she had to do.
- [26:37]
Sean Fennessey
She was really.
- [26:38]
Matt Bellany
She peed herself.
- [26:39]
Craig Horlbeck
She peed herself.
- [26:40]
Matt Bellany
Like, drop the mic. You're getting the Emmy.
- [26:43]
Craig Horlbeck
Yes. I mean, actually. But Cranston also is a front. I mean, Cranston in his underwear, getting dressed.
- [26:48]
Matt Bellany
He was not playing himself.
- [26:49]
Sean Fennessey
He wasn't playing himself. Yeah, yeah.
- [26:51]
Matt Bellany
Cranston is by far my favorite character in the entire show.
- [26:54]
Craig Horlbeck
And Cranston is, like, a great physical comedic actor, and he did sitcoms, so I would definitely give Zoe for, like, doing the most, and I'm. I think it's just, like, the best look for her as. As an actor. It's always a great look when people do stuff. Like this cameo that I thought was probably the funniest was Franco's.
- [27:12]
Matt Bellany
Pretty funny.
- [27:14]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah, yeah, Franco. It's funny because I feel like usually Seth's the buffoon and Franco's trying to hold him together, and this is. They kind of switch it. Yeah. Give it to Franco Charlize has a great one line. Dion waiters.
- [27:26]
Matt Bellany
It is a great one line.
- [27:27]
Craig Horlbeck
Get the fuck out of my party. Just. Yeah, it's okay.
- [27:30]
Sean Fennessey
Matt, were you surprised by how good anyone was as themselves or anybody who.
- [27:33]
Matt Bellany
Scorsese. I know Scorsese has done guest acting before, but that episode does not work unless he is believable at being super pissed off about the Jonestown movie. And that one scene where he's like, that's a furtive look. I know. Furtive. That is a furtive look. That is an amazing scene. And it only works because he's great in it.
- [27:58]
Sean Fennessey
The story that I had heard was that Seth and Evan had not met Scorsese until the day they shot that. And that when he came in, they were prepared for anything going in any direction and that he came in and just crushed it. In their style of filmmaking that you were describing earlier.
- [28:13]
Craig Horlbeck
It's funny because so many of the people in the cameos in the show are people who have relationships with Seth and Evan. Dave, Franco, Charlize, they did that. You know, Seth and Charlize did a movie together. They've never done anything with Scorsese. And I don't know if it's like an Apple symbiotic relationship thing where Scorsese makes movies with Apple, but it's interesting that he was the major director that they.
- [28:33]
Sean Fennessey
Well, it was convenient that Martin Scorsese's new five part documentary directed by Daniel Day Lewis, his wife Rebecca Miller is coming out on Apple TV plus so.
- [28:41]
Matt Bellany
And they and Apple also dramatically overpaid for his Killers of the Flower movie.
- [28:45]
Sean Fennessey
Hey, hey, settle down, settle down on dramatically overpaid, Matt. All right, let's take it easy here.
- [28:51]
Matt Bellany
That was the movie that was rescued from Paramount. Apple took it over because of the budget.
- [28:56]
Craig Horlbeck
You can't overpay for art.
- [28:58]
Sean Fennessey
Craig knows. I agree with that. So what about Olivia Wilde? I wanted to ask you both about her. I thought. I found her decision to do it fascinating to skewer herself in the aftermath of the controversy around Don't Worry Darling, her last directorial effort. Matt, what'd you make of that?
- [29:15]
Matt Bellany
Good on her for doing it. That was actually one of my least favorite episodes. The conceit of it. I get it. The whole kind of Chinatown esque, mystery esque, funny conceit just didn't have as many laughs as I would have wanted. And the ultimate payoff with her, like, was pretty obvious from the beginning that she was the one who stole the reels. But. But big ups to her for doing It. I think that of all the people in the show, maybe she didn't get the boost that some of the others may have. I don't hear her name discussed around town very much about. About doing it, but I'm glad she did it.
- [29:53]
Craig Horlbeck
Well, you know, her role is the least funny. I mean, yeah, she's playing a villainous character, but you have to give her credit. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought she was great, and I think she's good actor. I thought she was really good in it, but.
- [30:03]
Matt Bellany
Yeah, well, that's the thing is they. They picked filmmakers that are also actors. Sarah Pauli, great actor, became a filmmaker. Olivia Wilde, even Scorsese had done some acting.
- [30:14]
Sean Fennessey
Yeah.
- [30:15]
Matt Bellany
There was another filmmaker.
- [30:16]
Sean Fennessey
I told. I told Craig, Owen Klein, son was an actor. He was a child actor who's a director now. And so even in the filmmakers they were picking, they had had acting experience, which is just really smart.
- [30:27]
Matt Bellany
Totally.
- [30:27]
Craig Horlbeck
I always think it's a great career move when. When celebrities do stuff like this.
- [30:31]
Matt Bellany
Yeah. And I like that the cameos all had a reason for being like, you can. A lot of these Hollywood shows, they often feel like stunts where you're just, oh, look at that. It's Mark Wahlberg.
- [30:46]
Craig Horlbeck
You can say Entourage.
- [30:47]
Matt Bellany
Yeah. All right. Yes. Entourage. I brought that up with Seth and Evans, and they're like, dude, we've never seen Entourage. But these all felt purposeful. Ron Howard was purposeful. He's known as the nicest guy in Hollywood. What do we do if we have to give him a horrible note that calls into question his entire movie? Great premise. And Ron Howard going nuts and making Seth fall over is great. Like that. That made sense. Having someone at someone like Zoe Kravitz go completely nuts on drugs, like that made perfect sense. And they talked about in the Ringer oral history. That was very good. They talked about how they initially thought that would be some big action star like John Cena, which would be funny if they had to, like, tackle him in his hotel room. And then Zoe was like, no, it should be me. Like, that's funnier. And they were right.
- [31:34]
Sean Fennessey
Craig, any closing thoughts on this series that I've never seen you more hyped for a TV show in all the years that I've known you. You came out of the shoot, you watched like 10 episodes in one evening, and you were like, this is the best thing I've ever seen. How are you?
- [31:45]
Matt Bellany
I know you liked it more than I did. Even Craig, because we watched this early, because I was very nervous about me being in it and the second they went on the press site, I told Craig about it. I'm like, oh, God, I got to watch this. And I liked it. It's very good. But Craig was, like, over the moon for it.
- [32:00]
Craig Horlbeck
I think it's a combination of one. It's just wonderful to have Seth and Evan back doing something. It's been a while since there's been, like, a big, you know, Seth Rogen facing Seth and Evan directed project. Combining that with. I love things about Hollywood. I. I loved Entourage. I love the Player. And it's honestly what I think what I respect the most about it is I did think it was going to be much more character driven, emotional storylines, and it's just straight curb. It's screwball. And when talking with Seth and Evan on the town, they even say, like, they're not even really sure how much they're really trying to say about Hollywood. They don't have these deep messages that they're trying to get out. They're just having fun. And they know about this industry more than anybody. I mean, for 20 years, they've been in it. They've started as writers, become movie stars, and now they're executives and producers. So they're basically just like telling a slapstick comedy as the most experienced insiders in a particular industry, which is why I love it so much.
- [32:59]
Matt Bellany
And on set, they were laughing, like in my scene where Cranston tries to bet a lobster at the blackjack table. Like, I could hear off in the background, like. Like the Seth laughs because he was just laughing at. He thought it was funny.
- [33:14]
Craig Horlbeck
It was.
- [33:15]
Sean Fennessey
It really was funny. I was really happy with it. It was not at all what I was expecting. I think I was expecting what. What you were just describing there, Craig. Something with, like, a really abiding point of view on how terrible things have been for them in 20 years, trying to get stuff made. And they seemed ultimately disinterested in that.
- [33:32]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah, I just appreciate sometimes. You know, when we did the Star wars rewatchables, and I was researching it, and George Lucas was like, if there's one thing you take away from Star Wars, I want the word to be fun. I just want people to have fun. And Seth and Evan, God bless them, are still just like, I just want people to laugh. And whatever medium we're doing it in, I just want people to laugh.
- [33:47]
Matt Bellany
George Lucas said that about the prequels, about the tax routes and the hour long, not the prequels.
- [33:53]
Craig Horlbeck
This was about a new hope.
- [33:55]
Matt Bellany
Oh, okay.
- [33:55]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah.
- [33:56]
Sean Fennessey
The thing he said about the prequels was he wants them to be boring. And he really lived up to that promise.
- [34:00]
Matt Bellany
Tedious, I think was the word.
- [34:02]
Craig Horlbeck
I think, you know, you guys say that, but people my age like those movies.
- [34:05]
Matt Bellany
Oh, my God. Maybe they're just super wonky about tax routes and shipping. Shipping complexities.
- [34:11]
Sean Fennessey
Matt, final question for you. When you go to CinemaCon in 2026, do you expect to be hailed as a conquering hero?
- [34:17]
Matt Bellany
I do, actually. I hope they have a special fake award that they give to me. That's the thing about Cinemacon is they give fake awards to people and, like, Kevin Costner will get up there and accept the, like, movie star of the Millennium award and he'll start crying and tell every all the theater owners how meaningful it is to him. I would like something like that.
- [34:35]
Craig Horlbeck
I do think they need to do an entire episode around the standing ovation at Cannes and Matt Remick trying to get the longest one he possibly can.
- [34:42]
Matt Bellany
Oh, that's a good idea.
- [34:44]
Craig Horlbeck
They should.
- [34:44]
Matt Bellany
And me making fun of it and how all the different outlets are clocking it at a different time. And it doesn't matter anyways because the people in the room are what generate the ovation, not the movie. Yeah.
- [34:55]
Sean Fennessey
Well, guys, this has been fun. The studio is a lot of fun. If you haven't seen it, you should probably check it out. If you're a fan of movies and television than listening to the Prestige TV podcast. Thanks to Matt Bellany. Thanks to Craig Horlbeck. Listen to the Town podcast. Listen to their conversation with Seth and Evan. If you want to hear more about the making of that series, we'll see you soon on this fellow.