[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Studio Season 1 Episode 4, “The Missing Reel.”]
Olivia Wilde goes “full Fincher” in Episode 4 of Apple TV+‘s The Studio, a superb comedy chock stuffed with stars satirizing their very own business — and for a number of the actors, themselves. “The Lacking Reel,” accessible as of April 9, options Wilde directing Zac Efron in a Chinatown-inspired movie noir that’s being shot totally on movie, leading to a extremely costly manufacturing. When a movie reel containing one of many film’s most essential scenes goes lacking, Continental Studios head Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) and Continental government Sal Saperstein (Ike Barinholtz) examine.
Whether or not supposed or not, “The Lacking Reel” performs into the real-life celeb gossip rumor mill that surrounded Wilde’s 2019 movie Don’t Fear Darling. Rumors of a romance with star Harry Kinds and a rift with star Florence Pugh resulted in Wilde having a repute for being an “unprofessional” director. On the identical time, rumors have been flying about Wilde’s separation from ex-fiancé Jason Sudeikis, with whom she shares two kids. “The Lacking Reel” depicts Wilde as a “tough” director who goes to excessive, pointless lengths for the sake of her movie that she believes to be a masterpiece. As characters joke all through the episode, it’s actually only a rip-off of Chinatown, the long-lasting detective movie noir from the Seventies starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. “Good artists borrow, and nice artists steal,” a number of characters, together with Wilde, joke within the episode.
The Studio co-creator Evan Goldberg instructed TV Insider that wrangling Wilde and the present’s lengthy checklist of visitor stars concerned completely different conversations with every expertise. Wilde was most interested in character growth. Goldberg mentioned, “We needed to meet her and persuade her to do it and work on the character together with her.” The identical went for Ron Howard, who guest-starred in Episode 3, “The Be aware.” Martin Scorsese, who appeared in Episode 1, was satisfied by the script.
Wilde was clearly sport to behave like an intense director. Crew members within the episode say that Wilde had gone “full Fincher” within the last days of filming, referencing director David Fincher‘s behavior of constructing actors do many takes of a scene.
“She made Zac do 40 takes of placing on a hat. It was f**king nuts. He was about to lose his sh*t,” a crew member answerable for transporting the movie reel instructed Matt and Sal. Wilde was cooperating with the investigation, as was Efron. Efron was their first main suspect, as he had a stash of money “for the products” hidden in his trailer. Seems, that was cash to fund the wrap get together Matt wouldn’t approve as a result of an excessive amount of cash had been spent on the movie.
Wilde was the one who truly stole the reel. She needed to reshoot the movie’s climactic scene and get extra funding to make a change to it, so she tried to drive Matt’s “low-cost” hand by making the reel go “lacking,” which might then immediate insurance coverage to cowl a reshoot. She solely stored the movie secure as an alternative of destroying it totally as a result of it additionally contained her cameo within the movie, which everybody mentioned on set was award-worthy. She known as it the “greatest efficiency of [her] profession.” It’s too unhealthy nobody will see it! To get her reshoots — and as a “f**okay you” to Matt, who known as it a nasty ripoff of Chinatown — Wilde destroyed the movie on the episode’s finish. Matt personally funded the reshoots as a result of, as his narration says on the finish, “On this city, [directors] name the pictures. Traditional Hollywood ending. Fairly, isn’t it?”
The Studio, Wednesdays, Apple TV+