When preparing to play Continental Pictures CEO Griffin Mill on Apple TV+’s hit comedy The Studio, Bryan Cranston knew he unlocked the role after listening to one particular audiobook: former Paramount boss Robert Evans’ autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture.
“I thought, ‘That’s the guy,’” Cranston explained during The Studio’s panel at the inaugural Televerse Festival in Los Angeles on Saturday. The Breaking Bad star then offered a hilarious impersonation of Evans. “He creates a false sense of humility. He will say things like, ‘I was having lunch in the Paramount commissary and in walked this broad and she was gorgeous, and I knew I had to have her. But who am I? I’m a schmuck. I will never get her. But you know what, in a week’s time, I did get her.’ Oh my God is that inappropriate at every level. I thought this is the guy I would like to play.”
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Cranston is Emmy-nominated for his role on the satirical comedy, which tallied 23 Emmy bids, including for Best Comedy Series.
The actor also bluntly set the record straight on speculation that his character was based on Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav. “I did a deep dive on him and I thought, ‘Well he’s so boring. That’s not going to happen.’ There is nothing funny about David. I’m sure he’s a very good CEO.”
Sitting next to the show’s creator and star Seth Rogen, executive producer James Weaver, and costars Kathryn Hahn, Chase Sui Wonders, and Dave Franco, Cranston said it was liberating to be on a show where you are allowed to say and do inappropriate things.
“That’s the fun. We get to let the dark sides of our character come out and play,” said Cranston, who added that as soon as he read the pilot, he was a go. “I was like, ‘I am in. Whatever you want me to do.’”
During the panel, Rogen, who stars as Matt Remick, the frazzled new head of Continental Studios under Cranston’s Mill, said his inspiration for creating The Studio came from his own experience in Hollywood — both the good and the bad.
“We have worked in the industry for a while with some conflict but general success. First and foremost, we do love this industry. This industry has afforded us lives that are beyond our wildest dreams,” said Rogen. “We really wanted to capture what it is we love about Hollywood and making movies and show how hard it is.”
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