Apple's The Studio Hilariously Validates Martin Scorsese (Using The Man Himself)

This article contains spoilers for the first episode of "The Studio."

In an era where decisions being made by the top brass of most major Hollywood systems are simultaneously predictable and surprising, "The Studio" feels like the perfect balm to make us laugh through it. The AppleTV+ comedy series from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg is a hilarious lampoon that honors the tumultuous industry as much as it skewers it.

In the first episode, film executive Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) is gifted with the promotion of a lifetime as the latest head of Continental Studios. He's a film nerd who holds the belief that there can be mutual success with box office phenomenons and artist-driven filmmaking. Matt's tenets are put to the test, however, when Continental CEO Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston) presents him with a deranged first assignment: greenlighting a "Kool-Aid" movie.

If Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" can get a Best Picture nomination and become a $1.4 billion sensation, then surely a feature about a fruit punch mascot crashing through walls can too.

It's a great set-up that sends Matt spiraling into panic mode right off the bat, but it becomes even funnier with the arrival of Martin Scorsese, who plays himself. The filmmaking legend pitches a multi-million dollar epic about the Jonestown Massacre with Steve Buscemi envisioned as cult leader Jim Jones. The image alone is hysterical. But this risky venture suddenly becomes the acquisition of a lifetime. Matt impulsively offers him a $250 million budget and an additional $10 million for the script rights under one condition: the film needs to be titled "Kool-Aid."

"The Studio" doesn't let Matt off the hook too easily, as that pitch alone comes with its own set of complications. It culminates in the newly-inducted studio head caving to pressure and making the "Kool-Aid" movie a commercially viable project instead, railroading Scorsese's script in the process.

While rightfully upheld as one of our greatest filmmakers, Scorsese has unwittingly antagonized a certain subsection of the internet and the industry at large for his comments on superhero movies. The roaring flame only intensified with the publication of his contested op-ed in The New York Times back in 2019, where he clarified his comments with a very rational and thoughtful response to the state of the film industry. He's always been right and one of the medium's greatest champions. It reflected our current state where few industry talents are speaking up on behalf of a pattern of bloated budgets and zombified franchise IP that's just not sustainable. Scorsese threw softballs as far as I'm concerned.

Going on six years later, not only has the landscape further validated his concerns, but "The Studio" serves as a hilarious companion piece.

The whole set-up of tricking one of the greatest filmmakers of all time into making a "Kool-Aid" movie, then killing his final project when it doesn't line up with corporate interests would be hilarious if it didn't also sound like a potential Deadline article. Cranston's David Zaslav-inspired CEO notes that they can't make a "Kool-Aid" blockbuster while also producing a movie about a mass suicide where "Kool-Aid" resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. (It's probably worth noting here, for posterity's sake, that Kool-Aid competitor Flavor Aid was actually used in the Jonestown massacre, not Kool-Aid.) 

"The Studio" brilliantly gets at the tug-of-war between Matt's creative intent and upholding a bottom line. He uses the success of Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood" as a barometer of an entertaining film about a historical tragedy that won awards and made money. But Matt ultimately folds and makes Scorsese cry in the process. Not cool, Matt.

It speaks to Scorsese's uneasiness about the "gradual, but steady elimination of risk" that infiltrated studio decision making. The only way he gets to make his fictional swan song is to associate it with a brand name, and even that's not enough. As absurd as it sounds, there is precedent for a "Kool-Aid" movie considering Mattel Film Chief Robbie Brenner is currently developing a cinematic universe based on the company's many products. I'd also be remiss to not mention their upcoming "Barney" movie written by Emmy Award-winning Ayo Edebiri and produced by Academy Award-winner Daniel Kaluuya.

The thing that a lot of detractors don't seem to understand is that Scorsese isn't delusional. He's well-aware that studios have always chased monetary success, but the issue lies in the healthy distribution eco-system Matt envisions, but can't cultivate. "We don't make films, we make movies," counters Continental's eccentric CEO.

Scorsese really is a great sport about his guest appearance in "The Studio" because he's also able to roll with the punches and poke fun at himself. The most notable joke at his expense is the pattern of campaigning to get his $200 million plus passion projects like "The Irishman" and "Killers of the Flower Moon" off the ground.

"The Studio" also serves as a reminder that Scorsese can be a great actor. He possesses such a lovable and entrancing personality that makes him a great figure to watch. There's a wonderful moment in this episode where Scorsese sees through Matt's deflection when he tries to change the subject about the status of the Jonestown movie. "It's not surprising because you're just a run-of-the-mill, faceless, talentless, spineless suit," says the filmmaking titan in response. That's the kind of scolding that would make me want to crawl into a hole and die.

Having Scorsese as Matt's first blunder is the perfect way to show how his trajectory is only going to get even more hilariously complicated over the course of the series. The episode's final few minutes show that he's still a cinephile who can take a verbal thrashing from one of the masters to heart and settle into watching "Goodfellas" at the end of it all. Whether Matt will actually fulfill his aspirations to a better future for the film industry remains to be seen.

The first two episodes of "The Studio" are currently streaming on AppleTV+.