Latest news with #Rogen
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Studio' Emmy predictions: How many nominations can it get?
Seth Rogen just might get to make a few acceptance speeches after all. While his on-camera doppelganger Matt Remick was desperate to be thanked from the Golden Globes stage, the cocreator/star/writer/director of Apple TV+'s The Studio may not have to worry. The freshman comedy may well prove to be the spoiler in the much-anticipated Emmys rematch between Hacks and The Bear — especially given its deep cast of A-list stars, the high-wire act of those oners, and Hollywood's love of celebrating itself. SEE'The Studio' episodes ranked, from worst to best With eight slots for best comedy, The Studio is assured of a nomination — the only question is whether it will unseat the reigning champ, Hacks. As of now The Studio is in second place on Gold Derby's predictions charts, but it's verrrrry close — and this time out, there's no debate about whether these contenders are comedies. Both bring on the laughs, both are a love letter to/satire of the industry, and both are undeniable hits. More from GoldDerby Kathryn Bigelow's Netflix Oscar hopeful gets explosive title: 'A House of Dynamite' Golden Globes set 2026 awards timeline, Best Podcast eligibility rules Jeremy Allen White is 'Born to Run' in the first trailer for Bruce Springsteen biopic 'Deliver Me From Nowhere' Apple With just 51 submissions, there are only five slots up for grabs, but Rogen is in solid second here, too — just behind SAG winner Martin Short. Either of them are likely going to eventually unseat two-time winner Jeremy Allen White — though the well-timed, though as yet-unseen-by-critics season four debut of The Bear on June 25 could prove a narrative shift for the FX series. But Rogen, who's been making the rounds on the FYC campaign trail, will undoubtedly hear his name called on July 15 for his bumbling, hapless studio executive. "It doesn't feel like I am having to shift gears between acting and writing and producing and directing," Rogen told Gold Derby. "As I'm acting, I'm also directing the scenes in a very subtle way, and I'm also rewriting the scene sometimes. And so to me, I actually think I feel the most comfortable when I'm doing all those things." SEESeth Rogen on taking big swings with 'The Studio': 'Are people just going to think this looks insane?' Who doesn't love Catherine O'Hara? She swept the TV awards cycle in 2020 for Schitt's Creek, and is a favorite among both audiences and her fellow actors. Which is why she's well-positioned for a double nomination this year — as supporting actress for The Studio, and for her guest turn on The Last of Us. (She can do drama! She can do comedy!) The only question is whether her costar and another potential double nominee can get in as well: Kathryn Hahn, who's in seventh place in our odds for supporting actress for The Studio as well as lead actress for Agatha All Along. Luckily, this category will have a deserving seven slots to fill, especially considering the competition from Hacks (Hannah Einbinder), The Bear (Liza Colon-Zayas), Abbott Elementary (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Janelle James), and Shrinking (Jessica Williams). (Costars Keyla Monterroso Mejia and Chase Sui Wonders were submitted in the category as well, but likely won't make the cut.) Apple TV+ Will we get to hear the magic words "Thank you, Sal Saperstein"? Ike Barinholtz stands in fourth place in our odds, comfortably secure in another seven-slot race; he, too, will have to fend off a two-time champion from The Bear, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, against the potential mid-summer momentum of Season 4. But the real surge may belong to Harrison Ford, another acting overachiever this season, who pulled double-duty with not only his well-hailed comedic turn in Shrinking but also weathered the winters of Taylor Sheridan's 1923 opposite another name familiar to award voters: Helen Mirren. The competition here also include Hacks star Paul W. Downs, Abbott Elementary's Tyler James Williams, and Ford's Shrinking costars Brett Goldstein and Michael Urie. SEE'Every actor likes to play a villain': Ron Howard on playing himself in 'The Studio' Apple TV+ Has one show ever swept an entire category? Unlikely, yes, but given The Studio's powerhouse lineup of cameos, it's not inconceivable that the majority of the six slots will go to at least two, if not three, of these names: Bryan Cranston, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Dave Franco, David Krumholtz, Anthony Mackie, Nicholas Stoller, Zac Efron — and yes, Matt Belloni. (If only rival studio head Ted Sarandos had been submitted!) The race is Cranston's to lose — and Howard could even get nominated for playing himself twice. He's so good at playing himself, he did it also on Only Murders in the Building. 'I'm not quite that affable and fun-loving, nor am I the hard-ass in The Studio,' Howard told Gold Derby. 'I think I land somewhere in the middle.' Apple TV+ Name recognition always rules in this category, and The Studio's casting team worked their magic: Zoe Kravitz, Sarah Polley, Greta Lee, Olivia Wilde, and Rebecca Hall are all on the ballot. Currently ranked No. 7 in our prediction charts, Kravitz is the closest to breaking in to the magic six slots, with Polley and Wilde close behind. Years past have shown that single shows tend to sweep up the lion's share of nominations, so perhaps that will propel one or more of them to make the cut. But here again, they'll have to overtake buzzy performances from — you guessed it — Hacks (Julianne "Dance Mom" Nicholson) and The Bear (Jamie Lee Curtis). Not to mention Cynthia Erivo, who should get five slots alone for playing quintuplets on Poker Face. Apple Playing it safe — and strategic — The Studio submitted just one episode, "The Promotion," for writing, penned by Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez. It's the pilot that sets the tone, establishes the characters, and raises the stakes for the rest of the season — it's hard to imagine the show being nommed without the episode that put it on the map. As for the competition for the six slots, last season's winner, Hacks, too, also laid all its cards on just one episode: season 4's penultimate "A Slippery Slope," where all of the tensions that have been bubbling finally burst through. The Bear opted for two: "Napkins," Tina's backstory, and "Ice Chips," Natalie's labor episode. Strategy matters, here, too — and here again, The Studio went for its strongest directorial effort, "The Oner." Much ink, digital and otherwise, has been spilled over how the episode about a oner was shot as a oner, so suffice it to say that Rogen and Goldberg's directorial achievement here will not escape voters' notice. Vying for the other five slots: three episodes from The Bear which did earn two category noms last year and again, "A Slippery Slope" from Hacks. 'There were a few moments where I almost lost my mind, and then I reminded myself that I am the one who chose to do this,' Rogen said. 'Weird for me to get mad at someone for that. But it really was an amazing team effort.' SEESeth Rogen explains how 'The Studio' pulled off its one-shot episode But wait, there's more: With its intentionally retro feel, The Studio is a natural contender for production design, cinematography, casting, costumes, and even hairstyling. "Everyone else in the show is like a throwback and dresses in a nostalgic kind of way," Rogen said at the FYC panel for The Studio. "But the idea was that [Kathryn Hahn's character] would be on the crackling edge of fashion. ... The hair, though, became a whole thing I had nothing to do with. I just went along for the ride." Best of GoldDerby 'It was wonderful to be on that ride': Christian Slater talks his beloved roles, from cult classics ('Heathers,' 'True Romance') to TV hits ('Mr. Robot,' 'Dexter: Original Sin') Sam Rockwell on Frank's 'White Lotus' backstory, Woody Harrelson's influence, and going all in on 'this arc of Buddhist to Bad Lieutenant' Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh admit they 'never had the audacity to realize' a show like 'Deli Boys' was possible Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Seth Rogen, Kieran Culkin Voice Ambitious Pigs in First Footage From Andy Serkis' ‘Animal Farm'
Seth Rogen does not have high expectations for Kieran Culkin in the first footage from Andy Serkis' animated feature Animal Farm. Serkis directed the adaptation of George Orwell's 1945 novella of the same name that focuses on a group of animals rising up against their owners. Animal Farm premieres this month at the Annecy Animation Festival and does not yet have a domestic release plan. More from The Hollywood Reporter America's Top Animation Schools Jennifer Lopez Takes Center Stage in First Trailer for 'Kiss of the Spider Woman' 'Care Bears' Movie in the Works From Josh Greenbaum at Warner Bros. Rogen and Culkin lead the extensive cast that also includes Gaten Matarazzo, Glenn Close, Laverne Cox, Steve Buscemi, Woody Harrelson, Jim Parsons, Kathleen Turner, Iman Vellani and Serkis. The footage shows pig Napoleon (Rogen) bonding with impressionable Lucky (Matarazzo) when Squealer also tries to connect with them. 'Please remove yourself from this,' Rogen warns Culkin. 'We're trying to have a father-son moment.' Serkis helmed the movie from a script by Nicholas Stoller after Serkis and Rupert Wyatt had penned a previous draft. Producing the film are Serkis, Jonathan Cavendish, Adam Nagle, Peter Nagle and Dave Rosenbaum. Animal Farm has long been in the works, with Serkis' work on the project first announced back in 2011. Netflix acquired distribution rights to the movie in 2018 before later letting them go. Serkis told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012 that he did not foresee the film taking an overtly political tone. The late Orwell had said that his story reflected events ahead of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the later regime of Joseph Stalin. 'We're keeping it fable-istic and [aimed at] a family audience,' Serkis said at the time. 'We are not going to handle the politics in a heavy-handed fashion. It is going to be emotionally centered in a way that I don't think has been seen before. The point of view that we take will be slightly different to how it is normally portrayed and the characters. We are examining this in a new light.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Seth Rogen on taking big swings with ‘The Studio': ‘Are people just going to think this looks insane?'
No one is more surprised at the success of The Studio than its cocreator Seth Rogen. After all, he and his cocreator, Evan Goldberg, set an impossibly high bar for themselves — skewering the very industry they live and thrive in. More from GoldDerby 'Disclaimer' star Leila George on how she landed 'the best job of her life' Emmy experts predict Drama Series race: 'Severance' out front, but watch out for 'The Pitt' 'You killed America's sweetheart!' Kaitlyn Dever teased for offing Pedro Pascal by 'Last of Us' cast, creators as bigger role looms in Season 3 'I did have a hyper awareness that a lot of the people I'd be interacting with professionally would probably see this, and if it was bad, it would be incredibly unpleasant for me to constantly be interacting with people that I knew thought I had failed,' Rogen tells Gold Derby. 'That did weigh on me, and it was something that I was aware of and something that did add pressure to the entire experience of it.' Thankfully, they did stick the landing — the eight-episode series of the Apple TV+ comedy scored with audiences, and sits atop Gold Derby's prediction charts across multiple categories, including Best Comedy Series, Lead Actor (for Rogen), Supporting Actress Catherine O'Hara and Supporting Actor Ike Barinholtz — not to mention its guest cast, including Bryan Cranston, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, and Zoë Kravitz. SEE'Is that about me?' Seth Rogen loves how 'The Studio' keeps Hollywood guessing Here, Rogen shares why he and Goldberg took so many big swings creatively, who said yes first (Scorsese), why nothing was left on the cutting room floor, and what's on the board for Season 2. Gold Derby: So I was going to joke about you wearing many hats for this series, and you are literally wearing a hat. Seth Rogen: I'm only wearing one single hat at this moment. Thank you for showing up dressed for my first question: Actor, writer, director, showrunner — how do you juggle all of your roles on ? It's funny, because to me, there are times where they are in conflict with one another, but in general, they are not. And when they're not, it feels like one seamless job. It doesn't feel like I am having to shift gears between acting and writing and producing and directing. It honestly just feels like I'm making a thing with my good friend and in doing that, there's a very fluid process in place. As I'm acting, I'm also directing the scenes in a very subtle way, and I'm also rewriting the scene sometimes. And so to me, I actually think I feel the most comfortable when I'm doing all those things. It's almost harder for me when I have been regimented to just one of those things, and that's when I start to feel, at times, a little bit more of the friction between the jobs. What has surprised you the most about people's response to the show? Honestly, I wouldn't say I'm surprised, but I don't take for granted anyone ever liking anything we do. I have been completely blindsided many times in my career where I really think I've done something everyone's going to respond to, and they just don't. And I've also made things that I don't think people are going to respond to that much, and they do, which is a pattern that always keeps me a little bit on edge, honestly. So I was just really happy people liked it, and that it seemed to resonate with people also outside of our industry. My wife's friends from Central Florida are staying with us right now, and they love the show, so that's been really rewarding. I was honestly very concerned that stylistically, we were taking a swing that would not resonate with people, and I was very happy and somewhat surprised, honestly, that it seemed to land in the exact way we hoped it would. Which, again, is not something I take for granted. Talk about those stylistic choices you made. Do you mean the shooting style, the episodic nature, the retro look and feel, all of the above? All of it, the choice to not make it incredibly serialized, from the writing to the directing. We made choices that go somewhat against my comfort zone in a lot of ways, very deliberately in almost every capacity, like the choice to make it very episodic, the choice to only give it one storyline. The idea that we only ever wanted to be a single propulsive story was something that I was very nervous about, honestly, because it just wasn't the trend of streaming comedy. SEE Seth Rogen explains how 'The Studio' pulled off its one-shot episode So why did you make that choice? I just thought it was exciting. That idea of self-contained great episodes of television is something that I feel a lot of nostalgia for. I still remember when I was a kid and 'The Contest' episode of Seinfeld was one that everyone was talking about. The idea of trying to create that type of conversation around the show was just something that Igrew up with and that I was missing a little bit. And then the idea to give it such a strong look — the design of the building, I was very nervous about. It was such a big swing. As we were shooting in these offices, I was worried, are people just going to think this looks insane? The reasoning behind it was all very sound, but I just wasn't 100 percent sure that it would necessarily land. It was great to really push myself out of my comfort zone, but it was also very uncomfortable at times. And then there's the oner shooting style, too. Exactly And that, again, was for comedy — so different and so nerve-wracking and so against what we had been taught and the school of comedy that we came up in, which was find it in editing, in the rhythms you can refine editorially. We were stripping ourselves of all that which was, again, very exciting, but it was just so different that I had no reason to believe it would land other than my hope and projected vision with Evan. We never committed as hard to having as specific a style directorially as we did as writers. And this was really in many ways, our first deliberate attempt to give our directing style as specific a voice as our writing style. SEE'The Studio' star Sarah Polley on playing herself, the question she didn't ask Seth Rogen, and the inside joke that drives her 'wild' You also set a pretty high bar for yourselves in terms of the casting. Who was the first person to say yes? Sarah Polley was actually the first person we went out to, way before we were making the show. And the main cast was very good, like Catherine O'Hara and Kathryn Hahn. Honestly, people were just very excited to be on a show that Catherine O'Hara is on. Scorsese came on relatively early in the process as well. Getting him early on in the process — that added a legitimacy to the whole thing that that put a lot of people at ease. They knew they weren't going to be the person putting themselves out there the most, with the highest stature in the industry. He gave us an amazing gift that we in no way deserved from him, necessarily. It solidified the show in a way that no one else could have done for us. Have you gotten any regrets from the people that said no? Yes, a couple. It's been very gratifying, I'll be honest. Yes, I've had a few emails from people that were like, 'Oh sh-t, I should have done it.' How did you pick what topics you were going to do episodes around, and what was left on the cutting-room floor? What's interesting was the way we shoot the show, nothing was done on the cutting-room floor. I think there's maybe one 30-second scene that we shot that we cut out of the show, and literally, everything else we shot is in the show, We're all very hard on the writing process. I really have a philosophy of if you find yourself cutting a lot of stuff, you do not write it well enough. I actually work very hard to structure things in a way where you can't cut a scene, because if you do, the whole piece doesn't make sense anymore. If you're structuring things in the right way, then every scene is leading to the next scene and building to the next scene. And so you shouldn't be giving yourself the opportunity to cut anything. There's no shortage of ideas to explore within the industry. The only limitation is our ability to turn it into an episode that stylistically fits into the show we are making, which is incredibly condensed, pressurized, high stakes explorations of singular ideas. I'm looking at a board of ideas [turns camera to show a storyboard with index cards] — we could have an idea about a bidding war, and it happens all the time in Hollywood, and it's something we've experienced, but what is the 30-minute story that is an exploration of a bidding war that is one singular story that's high stakes, that is inherently comedic, that has true opportunity for real comedic highs and incredible visceral moments, and hopefully maybe even physical comedy and slapstick. It's purely based on our ability to turn these ideas into episodes. So the awards campaign episode — that will happen next season? We've been talking a lot about it, honestly — film festivals, the standing ovations. We have a lot to crack. Looking back over the course of the season, what was the toughest episode to pull off? What episode are you proudest of? The Vegas stuff was hard, but to me, the Golden Globes one was the one I was most proud of. We had an incredibly specific vision for it in in every way, and the vision was incredibly complicated — we just had to shoot it at the Beverly Hilton. And that was incredibly restrictive and logistically difficult. I wanted there to be never a suspension in disbelief in the caliber of celebrity you were seeing — that's not who'd be winning a Golden Globe, that's not who'd be hosting the Golden Globes, that's not who'd be getting a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes, that's not who'd be presenting at the Golden Globes. And so given that that was our self-imposed mandate, pulling off an award show was incredibly difficult, and getting that amount of cameos to show up in that time frame was incredibly difficult. It was also the first time that we were really using our oner shooting style in an environment with so many people. A lot of the episodes are pretty contained — maybe 30, 40 people in some scenes. But this, every scene had 500 people in it, and so we instantly saw, oh, the resets take so much longer, and so much more can go wrong. And even though very few people have been to the Golden Globes, and ever will go to the Golden Globes, very few people will understand the lengths I went through to obtain this. I just wanted it to feel like you were there. And when I watch it, to me, it really feels like what it feels like to be at the Golden Globes, and I'm very proud that I was able to do that. SEE 'Is that about me?' Seth Rogen loves how 'The Studio' keeps Hollywood guessing How many notes have you gotten from the industry for Season 2? We've gotten a lot of ideas sent to us, which is great. It's so nice that people are pitching ideas to us, and there's no shortage of ideas. Can we take these great ideas that people are bringing us and actually turn it into an episode of the show is always the question. What's the worst idea you've gotten? What's funny is, we've gotten calls from some studio heads who love the show and are giving us ideas, but they're also just giving us notes on the show that Matt just get over himself. Like, if he just didn't such an ego about this, he'd be much better at his job. And it's like, that's not a good note for the show. That is the show. I get as a studio head that would probably make it better, but comedically, that would hurt the show, not help it. Best of GoldDerby Gary Oldman on 'Slow Horses' being 'an extraordinary show to work on' and 'one of the highlights of my career' Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate on playing best friends in 'Dying for Sex': 'It was love at first sight' Dan Fogelman and team on the making of 'Paradise': 'It only works if you have talented people who you trust' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Seth Rogen and Jason Segel Relive 27 Years of Friendship: Smoking Before ‘The Matrix,' Peeing Next to Scorsese and Harrison Ford Watching Segel Naked
Jason Segel and Seth Rogen, who both emerged from the Judd Apatow comic universe, are now two of the funniest multi-hyphenates in the industry. Segel, with Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein, co-created 'Shrinking,' a dramedy about an unconventional therapist, played by Segel, going through the stages of grief. Rogen, with his longtime writing partner, Evan Goldberg, co-created 'The Studio,' and co-directs every episode. He stars as a newly appointed studio executive trying to keep his head above water. Seth Rogen: The first time we met — 27 years ago — I was 16 or 17 when we shot the pilot of 'Freaks and Geeks.' How old were you? More from Variety Dave Chappelle Joins Mo Amer for Rare Interview on Political Comedy, Fiery 'SNL' Monologues and Crying Over Netflix's 'Mo': 'I'm Not Doing This S--' If the 'Show Sucked' Like Father, Like Son: Arnold and Patrick Schwarzenegger on Nepo Babies, Nude Scenes and 'Becoming the Greatest Star of All Time' How 'The Studio,' 'Yellowjackets,' 'Monsters' and 'White Lotus' Make Bad Behavior Appealing Jason Segel: I was 18 or 19. It's crazy to think about that. In preparation for this, I was thinking about the first time we bonded. I have a very clear idea of the moment. Rogen: What was it? Segel: While we were shooting the pilot, 'The Matrix' came out. We didn't know each other that well. We didn't know anybody else that well. We were all just meeting each other. And all we knew is that you and I both liked to smoke weed. Rogen: [The film] came out the day the pilot wrapped, so in my head, the whole pilot was just a march to 'The Matrix' being released. Segel: We rolled giant joints and drove to the movie theater and saw 'The Matrix' together. I remember coming out of that movie legitimately feeling like something had changed. It was a very inspiring thing. Rogen: It was like our 'Star Wars.' Segel: You and I started writing harder after that. I think about that period as something you can never get back. We had the naivete of youth. We didn't really know how to do it. Rogen: I remember having no fucking clue what I was doing at all. Meeting you — you had thoughts about the craft of acting. You were the first serious actor I ever talked to. All I did was memorize the lines and try to say them in a way that sounds remotely realistic and natural. Then I realized everyone else on the show was creating a whole character. Segel: But don't you think acting is all just tricks so that when they say 'Action,' you feel comfortable? Rogen: The longer I act, the less I understand it, honestly. Sometimes I look back at the choices I made, and they're more surprising at times than things I would do now. Segel: People always ask, 'What would older you say to younger you?' I think the opposite is more important for me at this age. Don't forget the guys who felt like, 'Why can't I make this movie and end it with a Dracula puppet musical? Why can't we do this whole movie about trying to get booze?' You know what I mean? There was a naivete that we had: 'Who's going to stop us?' Rogen: I've let pragmatism invade my thinking in many ways. You get too realistic about things, and you're like, 'What's going to work?' instead of 'What sounds fun in the moment?' Segel: The most strategic decisions I've made have been the worst ones. Do you have a true north — a view of life you're trying to express? Rogen: No. Sometimes. I'd say that some things I've made are trying to eventually have an idea that they're trying to get across — something I believe. But I mostly start thinking of an idea as I think of the energy of it. That's what becomes exciting to me. I never start with one single thing. Where do your ideas come from now? Segel: I don't write very often because I don't love it. I find it to be kind of fraught. I think of an idea, something I'm dealing with in my life, and then I try really hard not to write it. But if it keeps nagging at me, I'm like, 'This is something I'll write.' Rogen: Me and Evan talk about a Darwinistic approach to our ideas often — the ideas that stick around are the good ideas. Segel: It's not that hard to think of ideas. But I get a little indecisive about committing to one. You gave me a piece of advice for a script I'm working on now that really stuck with me. I didn't feel like I was smart enough to write this thing, and you said, 'We're the age now where you write stuff like that.' That's the beauty of this thing, starting to realize, 'OK, now let's try to up the degree of difficulty.' Rogen: Aging is weird in many ways. But acknowledging that your taste has changed and your sensibilities have changed … That was a scary thing for me and Evan to even acknowledge: Oh, we don't want to make stuff about dumb teenagers anymore. Segel: Or being afraid of girls. Rogen: It's been a decade since Evan and I wrote and directed and produced a thing I was also in. It took us a transition period from our 30s into our 40s where we were working on other stuff the whole time, but it wasn't our stuff. Segel: Do you and Evan have the same taste, or is it like a Venn diagram? Rogen: It's close enough that we've never really had a major conflict over what we want to work on. There's never been a thing that one of us really wants to make and the other doesn't want to make at all. Segel: You really notice, in 'The Studio,' this energy that goes through it. It felt to me like a mix: 'Birdman' meets 'Curb.' Rogen: That's exactly what we were going for. Segel: It's all of the awkwardness and reality of 'Curb,' but set to a rhythm. Rogen: I wanted it to be fast — that was a word I would use a lot. I thought a lot about: What do I want to do all day? What do I like to do? What I don't love to do is insert shots and establishing shots. I don't love doing scenes that feel like they're serving some storyline that will pay off in a few episodes. I love high-stakes, intense scenes where everyone wants to grab each other and shake each other. As we were writing the show, the first conversations we were having were 'How do we infuse every scene so I'm only doing scenes that are really funny?' Segel: It's like you only did the scenes that people like. Rogen: We didn't cut. Nothing we shot was not in the show. Do you guys improvise a lot? Segel: When it makes sense. Our show is also this mix of comedy and drama. You know I love talking about acting. Rogen: Not as much as some. Segel: All those improv skills that we learned for comedy and got pretty damn good at turned out to really apply to dramatic scenes also. Rogen: Even more so, I think. Because you aren't trying to make jokes. Segel: And you're not trying to prove you're clever. With 'Shrinking,' the writers are incredible, and they give us a really good treasure map that's pretty fucking detailed. But then you're dropped into the treasure map and it's three-dimensional and you're like, 'Oh, but there's an interesting little thing over here …' Rogen: Does the same person direct the whole show? Segel: No. Rogen: How's that? That's the one thing I'd never really done. 'Pam & Tommy' was the first time since 'Freaks and Geeks' or 'Undeclared' that I'd acted in a television show, and I honestly struggled with having different directors. I was very thrown off by it, having all these people come in, handing off the show from one person to the next. Segel: I get it. There's a lot of moving targets, and you're block shooting for locations, so … Rogen: … different directors will come in throughout the day. Segel: That happens occasionally. But we have a really cohesive unit up top with Bill Lawrence. But it's an interesting thing, you know, because you do all the jobs, but I don't think anyone knows, until you get into editing, what the show is. Rogen: Not on our show. Segel: This is a show about grief, and we wanted to honor that. People are really going through this shit in the world. You also want it to be funny. So it was a lot of turning the dials of how bad you can make him as a therapist. Rogen: I was explaining it to Lauren, my wife, as we were watching it. She was like, 'Is he doing cocaine and sleeping with prostitutes?' I didn't think this show went there. Segel: You've known me a long time, so you'd probably agree if you were directing me: I was like, 'Guys, you can have him do as much bad stuff as you want.' Rogen: 'It'll be OK.' Segel: People are going to think, 'Oh, I hope he's OK.' Rogen: Sympathy. Segel: Spend the currency. Rogen: How did you get Harrison Ford? Segel: We got Harrison Ford because Harrison Ford is the kind of person you make an offer to so that for three days you can say, 'We've made an offer to Harrison Ford,' and then you'll pick the real guy. Rogen: Sounds cool in a restaurant. Segel: He read it, and he didn't know anything about me. Brett Goldstein met with him, and they had a really nice meeting, and they sent him 'The End of the Tour' and 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall.' Then, apparently, Bill Lawrence got a text that said, 'I'm in. And tell the kid, great dick.' Rogen: Even if he was out, that would be great. I would take that. Segel: How about your cameos? Is that the people you've amassed throughout your career? Rogen: No, not at all. I'd say half of them were people I didn't know at all. We wanted people you haven't seen us with before. Martin Scorsese, we just sent it to his manager. I'd met Zoë Kravitz once or twice. I met a lot of these people in passing. I'm sure you have at a party. Segel: I did meet Martin Scorsese once. I met him at the Golden Globes, and we peed next to each other at the urinals. But I had the kids' one and he had the tall one. So everything about it was just way off. That's a great memory. Rogen: He's a little guy. Segel: Were you intimidated to direct people like that? Rogen: It was the worst thing in the whole world. We were shooting the show in such a specific way that I was so nervous it would be creatively rejected. Segel: I'm so interested to hear that you get nervous. Rogen: The character is me in many, many ways. And the crux of the character is that he doesn't want to let down his idols. And that's one of the biggest things that I'm navigating: Whenever I get anyone to come do a thing we're doing, I'm so aware of how upset I'll be if they think it's bad. Segel: How do you act while you have to be carrying all this other stuff too? Rogen: To me, it's more fun to be directing the scene and in the scene and having written the scene than it is to just be acting the scene. The fact that it's way harder, I like it. Segel: It's a tightrope. Rogen: 'Steve Jobs' was the first time I had done anything where there were these long, elaborate shots and these long walk-and-talks — it has to be exactly right. It was the first time I made a thing where everyone's really leaning in and everyone's engaged. And when you got it, everyone's clapping. That was an energy I wanted to try to create on a day-to-day basis. Segel: You're describing my ethos of acting. Repeatability is an important skill when you start doing all the other angles. But the magic part, the part where I'm like, 'Oh, fuck, we did it,' is when you catch something. Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Perth Now
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Seth Rogen calls directing Martin Scorsese the 'worst thing in the world'
Seth Rogen has admitted directing Martin Scorsese in The Studio was the "worst thing in the world". The actor stars in and directs the Apple TV Plus series in which he plays the head of a movie studio and it's featured cameos from industry titans including Goodfellas director Scorsese, Ron Howard, Anthony Mackie, Zoe Kravitz, Olivia Wilde and Zac Efron - and Rogen has now admitted he was "nervous" working with big name stars on his project. In an interview with Jason Segel for Variety, Rogen explained: " I'd say half of them [the cameos] were people I didn't know at all. We wanted people you haven't seen us with before. "Martin Scorsese, we just sent it to his manager. I'd met Zoe Kravitz once or twice. I met a lot of these people in passing. I'm sure you have at a party." When asked if he was "intimidated" to direct people like Scorsese, Rogen replied: "It was the worst thing in the whole world. We were shooting the show in such a specific way that I was so nervous it would be creatively rejected. " In the show, his character Matt Remick is often desperate for directors and actors to like him and worries about making them angry - and Rogen admits he's a lot like Matt in many ways. He added: "The character is me in many, many ways. And the crux of the character is that he doesn't want to let down his idols. "And that's one of the biggest things that I'm navigating: Whenever I get anyone to come do a thing we're doing, I'm so aware of how upset I'll be if they think it's bad. " Segel went on to add of Scorsese: "I did meet Martin Scorsese once. I met him at the Golden Globes, and we peed next to each other at the urinals. But I had the kids' one and he had the tall one. So everything about it was just way off. That's a great memory." Rogen the added: "He's a little guy." Rogen previously admitted he's had plenty of pushback from industry pals after he used their real life experiences as inspiration for The Studio. He told Vanity Fair magazine: "I think more [often] people have not wanted to accept that we have based things off of them, rather than claiming that we have based things off of them. "If anything, people are like: 'That's not me though.' But I think in general they really see that it comes from a place of love."
