{"id":870323,"date":"2025-09-03T23:15:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T04:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/03\/how-the-studio-scored-scorsese\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T23:15:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T04:15:03","slug":"how-the-studio-scored-scorsese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/03\/how-the-studio-scored-scorsese\/","title":{"rendered":"How The Studio Scored Scorsese"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n


\n
\n \"Portrait
\n <\/a>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/p>\n

By<\/span>
\n Nicholas Quah<\/span><\/a>,
\n a Vulture critic who covers podcasts, television, and pop culture<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n <\/picture>\n <\/div>\n
\n

\n And all those other A-list cameos: \u201cPeople fall out at the last minute all the time, so you have to be ready,\u201d says casting director Melissa Kostenbauder.
\n Photo: Apple TV+<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Of The Studio<\/em><\/a>\u2019s embarrassment of riches<\/a> in this year\u2019s Comedy Emmy nominations, its near-sweep of the Outstanding Guest Actor category feels the most in-character. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg\u2019s showbiz farce sits squarely in the lineage of Extras<\/em> and Robert Altman\u2019s The Player<\/em> in that it wrings considerable pleasure from packing the frame with famous faces. And these aren\u2019t just winking cameos meant to elicit knowing nods; Rogen and Goldberg turn many of them into genuinely funny performances. Which is why, absurd as it may seem, it makes sense that all but one Guest Actor slot went to a Studio<\/em> player: Bryan Cranston, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Dave Franco, and Anthony Mackie, with all but Cranston playing themselves. (The category\u2019s lone interloper is Jon Bernthal in The Bear<\/em>, which isn\u2019t really a comedy but is a guest-star factory in its own right<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Oddly, The Studio<\/em> fared less well in the Guest Actress race, with only Zo\u00eb Kravitz receiving a nod while Rebecca Hall, Olivia Wilde, Greta Lee, and (most criminally) Sarah Polley were left out. Still, the fact I even have such a long list of snubs speaks to the show\u2019s deftness in casting both fully fledged characters and quick-hit celebrity cameos, thanks in large part to the work of the show\u2019s casting director, Melissa Kostenbauder. A veteran of the trade, and one of the rare people who entered Hollywood specifically to become a casting director, she worked her way up from an internship with the late, legendary Mali Finn to assistant, then associate, and now to her current perch, where she\u2019s leading searches for the likes of Winning Time<\/em>, Tokyo Vice<\/em>, and Unbelievable<\/em>. (She got an Emmy nom in 2020 for the last one.)<\/p>\n

The Studio <\/em>wasn\u2019t originally hers to cast. That job was first held by Francine Maisler, the high-profile casting director whose r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes collaborations with Michael Mann, Aaron Sorkin, and Steven Soderbergh. But the 2023 WGA strikes upended the initial production schedule, and by the time work resumed, Maisler was no longer available. That\u2019s when Kostenbauder stepped in. \u201cBy the time I came on,\u201d she said, \u201cthey had all ten scripts, and many of the ideal names they had in mind were already written into them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The casting process stretched between January and June 2024. \u201cIt\u2019s the same but different every time,\u201d Kostenbauder said of the job. \u201cYou get the script, you keep an eye out for how large the roles are and what demands they have on them, and you create what we call a breakdown: a clean reference on all the roles, descriptions, and pages. Depending on the needs of the production, sometimes you do lists of people who would be offer-only, others who need auditions. Maybe it\u2019s a big role, maybe they want unknowns, maybe they want someone new.\u201d<\/p>\n

With The Studio<\/em> and its avalanche of celebrity cameos, the primary challenge was scheduling, which is inevitable when juggling so many famous people\u2019s calendars. Because of that logistical complexity, the team shot all episodes simultaneously, with actor availability playing a major role in how production was structured. And despite the enormity of Kostenbauder\u2019s assignment, she was able to take a grounded approach: \u201cSeth and Evan wanted each guest actor to fit into the scenario,\u201d she said. \u201cThey always talked about things in terms of making each given situation successful.\u201d She hasn\u2019t yet started work on season two, but in the run-up to the Emmys, Kostenbauder shared her experience casting some of the biggest episodes of season one.<\/p>\n

Pilots are always among the trickiest episodes to construct. They have to set up the premise, introduce the characters, and establish the world, all while convincing viewers to buy into the show. By the time Kostenbauder took over casting The Studio<\/em>, Maisler had already begun casting the core Continental Studios crew, which would ultimately include Rogen, naturally, as newly elevated studio head Matt Remick; Ike Barinholtz<\/a> as Matt\u2019s No. 2, Sal Saperstein; Catherine O\u2019Hara as his predecessor and mentor\/rival, Patty Leigh; and Kathryn Hahn as Maya Mason, the studio\u2019s outrageously showy head of marketing. Chase Sui Wonders, a relative newcomer playing the young creative executive Quinn Hackett, had been found through an extensive audition process.<\/p>\n

The pilot, \u201cThe Promotion<\/a>,\u201d opens with Matt\u2019s surprise elevation to the top job and follows him as he\u2019s tasked by Griffin Mill, the studio owner played by Bryan Cranston, to green-light a Kool-Aid movie in the wake of Barbie<\/em>\u2019s IP-tastic success. Matt\u2019s central conflict is balancing his cineaste idealism with Hollywood\u2019s ruthless demands, and at first, he reluctantly pursues journeyman comedy director Nicholas Stoller, who gamely appears as himself. (Stoller directed Rogen in Neighbors<\/em> and, more recently, the Apple TV+ comedy Platonic<\/em>.) But the episode pivots when Matt learns he may have a shot at signing a true Hollywood legend: Martin Scorsese.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeth and Evan wanted the pilot to make an immediate impact, cast-wise,\u201d Kostenbauder says, \u201cand they certainly accomplished that with Marty.\u201d Scorsese was always the first choice, but landing him was far from guaranteed. \u201cI\u2019d be terrible at my job if I didn\u2019t come up with alternatives,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re constantly playing chess as a casting director. How can you minimize potential emergencies? People fall out at the last minute all the time, so you have to be ready.\u201d When asked if she was able to share who might\u2019ve appeared in Scorsese\u2019s stead in an alternate universe, she politely declined. \u201cOh, I can\u2019t share that,\u201d she replied. \u201cI am so protective of the guest actors who do this show, because they don\u2019t do things like this most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

With help from Apple, which facilitated communication between Scorsese\u2019s team and the Studio<\/em> crew, the long shot came through and no backup was needed. The result was a fun cameo arc that ends on the image of Scorsese breaking down in tears after Matt shelves the iconic director\u2019s dream project to save his own job \u2014 a turn that earned Scorsese his first acting nomination. \u201cWe felt so lucky he wanted to do it,\u201d Kostenbauder said. \u201cEveryone was excited he was even entertaining<\/em> it to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series\u2019 second episode, \u201cThe Oner<\/a>,\u201d is also its most technically audacious. It follows Matt and Sal on an ill-advised set visit to Sarah Polley\u2019s new film on the very day she\u2019s attempting an intricate, time-sensitive single-take shot. The episode itself mirrors the conceit, unfolding as a true oner, with the camera weaving and barreling through the set in a state of mounting, anxious momentum as Matt\u2019s meddling escalates. It\u2019s a rich scenario: Polley, the respected indie director, trying to manage her shoot while manipulating Matt\u2019s neediness into securing more money to license a pricey Rolling Stones song; Greta Lee, playing herself, buttering up Matt in hopes of using the studio\u2019s private jet; Sal and Patty scheming to keep Matt away from the action; and all the while, the crew scrambles to get the shot before running out of sunlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always going to be Sarah,\u201d Kostenbauder says. Polley, of course, is an accomplished director as well as actress and writer; she is the filmmaker behind Away From Her, Take This Waltz<\/em>, the autobiographical documentary Stories We Tell<\/em>, and Women Talking<\/em>, which won the 2022 Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. \u201cShe, Evan, and Seth all know each other,\u201d Kostenbauder says, \u201cand luckily, she wanted to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casting Lee\u2019s role was trickier, Kostenbauder explained, as the brief was simply \u201csomeone you might plausibly view as a lead in a Sarah Polley movie.\u201d Coming off Past Lives<\/em>, Lee was a natural fit, though one potential complication with The Studio<\/em>\u2019s cameos is that many require the actors to play less-than-flattering versions of themselves. (Ron Howard toys with his reputation as the nicest guy in town by playing a truly domineering bully in episode three.) In those cases, Rogen and Goldberg took the lead. \u201cGenerally, with celebrity casting, we\u2019d check availability, get a temperature read from their team, and then send the script,\u201d Kostenbauder says. With The Studio<\/em>, \u201cinstead of a script, we\u2019d set up a meeting with Seth and Evan, and they\u2019d pitch the project directly. They worked hard to establish trust. They\u2019re not trying to torpedo anyone; it\u2019s about serving the scene. They\u2019d only poke fun with the person\u2019s permission. Once that was done, either the person would want to do it or they wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the episode\u2019s cast had to be as precise as Lee and Polley, since the entire shoot hinged on executing a oner. \u201cWe needed people who could handle that kind of choreography,\u201d Kostenbauder says. She singles out Thomas Barbusca, who plays the production assistant tasked with attending to Matt. \u201cThere were so many wonderful co-stars, guest stars, and nonspeaking roles in that episode. We needed actors with on-set experience who knew exactly what they were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sixth episode is somewhat unique in the season as it\u2019s the only one that unfolds largely outside Hollywood\u2019s insular bubble. After a test screening for a trailer for Duhpocalypse!, <\/em>a new Spike Jonze film in which Johnny Knoxville and Josh Hutcherson (both appearing in brief cameos) survive an apocalypse overrun by diarrheal zombies, we follow Matt as he accompanies his new girlfriend Sarah, a pediatric oncologist played by Rebecca Hall, to a swanky charity gala for children with cancer. Thrust into a room full of people whose work is objectively more important than his own, Matt\u2019s confronted by their disregard for his Hollywood standing. Worse, they look down on his job. In true Studio<\/em> fashion, the discomfort builds until the insecure Matt makes a play to force the doctors into admitting his work is just as important as theirs. Of all ten episodes, \u201cThe Pediatric Oncologist<\/a>\u201d was Kostenbauder\u2019s favorite to work on. \u201cMy whole life growing up in this industry, all anyone ever said was, \u2018We\u2019re not curing cancer\u2019 whenever they wanted to minimize stress and then they immediately did something outlandish, like flipping over a table,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s very true to my experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casting Hall, who comes with an extensive r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that\u2019s equally balanced between franchise films (like Iron Man 3<\/em> and the Monsterverse movies) and thinkier fare (Christine, Resurrection,<\/em> the upcoming Peter Hujar\u2019s Day<\/em>), was a particular pleasure. \u201cOne of my favorite things about casting is using people in ways you don\u2019t usually see them,\u201d Kostenbauder says. \u201cWe don\u2019t often get to see the wonderful Rebecca Hall in comedy, let alone with such absolutely brown humor. She\u2019s so elegant, and I think that really heightened the differences between their worlds.\u201d Because Hall played a fictional doctor and not a celebrity cameo, she wasn\u2019t pre-written into the part. Instead, her casting came through the standard process: Kostenbauder generated a list of possibilities, and Goldberg and Rogen responded to the idea of Hall immediately.<\/p>\n

In terms of sheer star power, \u201cThe Golden Globes<\/a>\u201d is The Studio<\/em>\u2019s pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance. The episode follows the Continental crew through a relatively successful awards ceremony \u2014 though perhaps not for Matt personally, whose yearning to be recognized onstage goes unfulfilled.<\/p>\n

As you\u2019d expect for an awards setting, the episode goes all in on celebrity cameos. In addition to Zo\u00eb Kravitz, who recurs across the season, the Globes lineup includes Quinta Brunson; Jean Smart; Hacks<\/em> creators Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky, and Paul W. Downs; Ramy Youssef; The Boys<\/em>\u2019s Erin Moriarty and Antony Starr; Adam Scott; the influencer Charli D\u2019Amelio; the director Zack Snyder; and Aaron Sorkin, attending in-universe to collect a Lifetime Achievement Award (a distinction he has yet to receive in the real Golden Globes).<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a really, really big one,\u201d recalls Kostenbauder. \u201cThey actually pushed that episode a little further in the schedule to give us more time to get through all of those folks.\u201d The brief was to assemble a mix of faces that could plausibly be a present-day Globes ceremony: recent winners, current nominees, industry fixtures. \u201cSome people they knew, some they didn\u2019t; the guys were aiming to create an authentic Globes room.\u201d<\/p>\n

One cameo that was particularly notable: Ted Sarandos, Netflix\u2019s co-CEO, delivering a rather effective turn as himself explaining to Matt that he ensures onstage recognition by having it written into contracts. (For the record, this is not Sarandos\u2019s first time playing a version of himself on a television show. That would be a 2004 episode of House Hunters<\/em><\/a>.) Sarandos\u2019s appearance raises a natural question: Was the spot written for him, or was there ever another media mogul (say, a Bezos) in the mix? \u201cOh, it was always Ted,\u201d Kostenbauder says. \u201cI remember asking, \u2018Do you think<\/em> you\u2019re going to Ted, or are you going<\/em> to get Ted?\u2019\u201d As it turned out, Rogen was already friendly with Sarandos. \u201cThat was a fun one,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI was pretty shocked that Netflix and Apple were both onboard \u2014 and it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n