The war between art and commerce is an ancient and bloody one. The chair of Continental Studios, Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston) is keen to deliver a decisive blow with the hammer of his newly acquired IP. Because “if Warner Bros can make a billion dollars off the plastic tits of a pussyless doll, we should be able to make TWO billion off the legacy brand of Kool-Aid.” He has just fired his long-serving studio head, Patty Leigh (Catherine O’Hara), for her preference for art and is on the verge of promoting studio executive Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) to the big job. What’s a guy – even if he is a devoted cinephile who dreams of adding his contribution to the illustrious roll call of meaningful movies, even if Patty has been his friend and mentor for years – to do? He kisses the ring, takes the job and grabs the Kool-Aid man by the hand. And with that we are off to the races for 10 fast, furious and farcical episodes of Rogen’s new Hollywood satire The Studio, created with his partner since their Superbad-minting days, Evan Goldberg.
Can Matt make a Kool-Aid movie that satisfies his inner cineaste and the gaping studio money maw? Why, it certainly seems so when Martin Scorsese (played, inimitably, by Martin Scorsese) turns out to have a script about just that subject! Well, indirectly about just that subject. Actually about the Jonestown massacre, whose 918 victims are supposed to have killed themselves by drinking … yes, you guessed it! And starring Steve Buscemi as Jim Jones. This is going to work out great.
