Martin Scorsese might be an Oscar-winning director, but he apparently doesn’t want to overstep when it comes to other directors’ sets.
Scorsese played a version of himself in the pilot of Apple TV+‘s The Studio. In the episode, he pitches an idea to Matt Remick (Seth Rogen), the new head of the fictional Continental Studios, for a movie about the Jonestown mass murder-suicide. Spoiler alert: Matt buys the script, thinking it’ll fill a mandate for him to make a movie based on the Kool-Aid Man, but Matt is later forced to tell Scorsese that not only will he not be making his movie, but the director can’t shop it anywhere else since Continental owns the rights. An upset Scorsese gets comforted by another guest star, Charlize Theron.
Even though Scorsese has an Oscar for best director (for The Departed) as well as nine other directing noms, he didn’t share his thoughts with The Studio co-creators Evan Goldberg and Rogen, who directed the pilot together, while filming his scenes.
“He had one note, but he didn’t give it until later,” co-creator and executive producer Alex Gregory told People.
Added Goldberg: “There was a moment where him and Charlize Theron were whispering to each other, and it took like 10 takes to get the shot. And then we got it and I was like, ‘What were you whispering about?’ He was like, ‘I knew you were doing this wrong, but I didn’t want to be a backseat director, so I just didn’t say anything.’ And I was like, ‘Well, we could have used that time, but I appreciate that you didn’t wanna manhandle us.’ “
Goldberg did not reveal what that note was in the People story.
Casting director Melissa Kostenbauder recently told The Hollywood Reporter that Scorsese was the “white whale” that Rogen and Goldberg were hoping for in terms of guest stars.
“I feel like they got their white whale, which was Martin Scorsese,” casting director Melissa Kostenbauder told THR. “I know what big fans they are, and truly everyone is of Marty, and once they got him and Ron Howard, it really started to show people the kind of level they were looking for.”
Indeed, the Gotham Award-winning show boasts several A-list guest stars in each episode. Kostenbauder told THR that this consisted of a very “unusual casting process” in that they wouldn’t send scripts when initially sending the offer out to the talent.
“We would offer up a meeting with Seth and Evan, and they were so good about making time to talk to all those people to help woo them and explain the character and answer any questions and make them comfortable, because it was never their intention to lampoon anyone,” Kostenbauder said, noting that full scripts were sent after these meetings.
Of those stars who were approached, “Some were game, and some weren’t. And some really did want to lean more into — I don’t know if it was Olivia Wilde or Dave Franco — kind of poking fun at themselves.”
As for landing Scorsese, Goldberg told People: “I think unanimously we would say Martin Scorsese as an actor was unbelievable. … The fact that he actually showed up, ’cause we kept thinking, ‘He’s gonna cancel. It’s too amazing. It’s too special. He’s just the best.’”
As for why Scorsese signed on, Goldberg said he thinks Jonah Hill — who’s collaborated with Rogen several times and starred in Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street — had a hand in that.
“I got the feeling he dropped in a good word for us and that might’ve helped it happen,” Goldberg said.
