{"id":1966323,"date":"2025-08-18T07:40:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T07:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1966323"},"modified":"2025-08-18T07:40:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T07:40:57","slug":"the-studio-creators-explain-why-they-cast-guest-stars-like-ron-howard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-studio-creators-explain-why-they-cast-guest-stars-like-ron-howard\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Studio’ creators explain why they cast guest stars like Ron Howard"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

For his episode of \u201cThe Studio<\/a>,\u201d Ron Howard really wanted to do his best.<\/p>\n

The director of \u201cA Beautiful Mind\u201d \u2014 a former child star \u2014 was playing himself in Apple TV+\u2019s Hollywood comedy, created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, about a beleaguered executive portrayed by Rogen. But this Ron Howard was an alternate universe version of Ron Howard, who instead of being notoriously nice, is sort of a jerk.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very determined to deliver a good performance,\u201d Goldberg remembers. \u201cHe had not acted in this manner in a very long time. He took some lessons. He really put his best foot forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogen adds: \u201cWe would rehearse over Zoom; he wanted to read the scenes a bunch of times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard even suggested movies of his they could make fun of in the script.<\/p>\n

The Academy Award winner (and \u201cHappy Days\u201d star) is one of many celebrities that guest star over the course of the inaugural season of \u201cThe Studio.\u201d Each half hour tackles a different headache for Rogen\u2019s Matt Remick and with it comes a meaty role for a director or actor to skewer his or herself. In addition to Howard, \u201cThe Studio\u201d also features Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Stoller, Sarah Polley<\/a>, Greta Lee and Anthony Mackie. And that\u2019s just in the first three episodes \u2014 the latest is now streaming. Later, Zo\u00eb Kravitz, Dave Franco, Zac Efron, Olivia Wilde and Ramy Youssef show up \u2014 just to name a few. So why all the famous faces parodying themselves?<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n
\n

Sarah Polley, left, with Catherine O\u2019Hara and Seth Rogen. The filmmaker appears as herself in Episode 2, \u201cThe Oner.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Apple)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

\u201cWe honestly just kept saying we didn\u2019t want to do something that was some fantastical version, we wanted it to be as reflective of reality as possible,\u201d Goldberg says. \u201cThat was our North Star: What is the reality of our lives and the people who work in Hollywood?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogen and Goldberg created the series alongside Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory and Frida Perez. And while Perez is a relative newcomer, Huyck and Gregory both wrote on a series that served as inspiration for the way \u201cThe Studio\u201d would handle guest appearances: \u201cThe Larry Sanders Show<\/a>,\u201d starring Garry Shandling as the eponymous talk show host who would interview real celebs on his fake show.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing we all connected on was \u2018The Larry Sanders Show,\u2019 \u201d Huyck says, recalling his initial conversation with Goldberg and Rogen. \u201cThat was the common tie, and they were like, \u2018We\u2019ve been spending a lot of the pandemic watching it, you guys wrote on it. Would you want to create a show with us similarly using celebrities to play versions of themselves but telling a new chapter and more personal version that really speaks to where the four of us were at that time?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The version they dreamed up \u2014 alongside Perez \u2014 was a series that uses each episode to tackle a different Hollywood mini-issue through the eyes of the perpetually stressed Matt. They came across some of the themes thanks to research meetings they had with execs before they started writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard a story about an executive who is terrified to give a director a note, so that\u2019s an episode,\u201d Gregory says. Another executive told the writers that he or she would cry the entire limo ride home if the talent didn\u2019t offer thanks during an award show speech. That comes up later in the season when Matt attends the Golden Globes.<\/p>\n

Matching the guest star to the scenario was a meticulous exercise.<\/p>\n

Take for instance, Howard. In the episode, \u201cThe Note,\u201d Matt has to tell a famous director that the last act of his movie just doesn\u2019t work. Rogen and Goldberg wanted someone who was famously good natured so they could subvert that reputation, as well as someone who had both prestige and box office hits, which meant they were hard to criticize from an executive\u2019s standpoint. They also needed a person who made a movie with a twist ending around the time Matt would have started working in Hollywood. On screen, Matt is living with the trauma of having told Howard years ago that it was a bad idea to save the revelation that Paul Bettany\u2019s character isn\u2019t real for the end of \u201cA Beautiful Mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n
\n

Seth Rogen plays Matt Remick, an anxious studio executive leading the fictional Continental Studios. \u201cWe heard a story about an executive who is terrified to give a director a note, so that\u2019s an episode,\u201d Alex Gregory says.<\/p>\n

(Apple)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

\u201cThe Venn diagram of what we were looking for and who exists was literally Ron Howard,\u201d Rogen says.<\/p>\n

The requirements for the various roles were so specific that if the creators couldn\u2019t get the star they had written the material for, they would just write a new episode.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a test screening episode that literally like two or three people on Earth fit the bill for who it could be and they were all unavailable,\u201d Rogen says.<\/p>\n

The material might still see the light of day: Should they get a second season, they\u2019ll revisit. The people who would be right for the job were willing to do it, they just couldn\u2019t make the timing work.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Goldberg and Rogen would always leave room for the guest star to shape his or her character during a pre-shoot discussion. Polley, for instance, added more motivation for her character. Without giving too much away, in a later episode Kravitz, \u201chad very specific thoughts about her knowledge of drugs would be, what her experience would be, what seemed believable in that capacity,\u201d Rogen says. Howard meanwhile had suggestions when it came to the ways other characters might suck up to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were like, \u2018Oh we want some people to say some sycophantic stuff to you,\u2019 \u201d Goldberg remembers. \u201cHe was like, \u2018Five incredibly sycophantic things that have been said to me in my career.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

While Rogen and Goldberg had preexisting relationships with some of the stars who did come to set, many of them were not people they were close to or knew at all. That helped given that Rogen and Goldberg were directing every episode.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of easier when we don\u2019t know them, to be honest,\u201d Goldberg says. \u201cThey\u2019re not as comfortable telling us what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Scorsese, who guests in the very first installment, even held his tongue when he noticed that the pair was doing something wrong. \u201cI wish he\u2019d interrupted us and be like, \u2018Do it this way, boys,\u2019 \u201d Goldberg adds.<\/p>\n

Scorsese established the level of talent they were hoping to get right out of the gate. Over the course of the plot, Matt, a cinephile, convinces the \u201cGoodfellas\u201d director to helm a movie based on Kool-Aid \u2014 except in Scorsese\u2019s version, the brand is just a way to talk about the Jonestown massacre. When it turns out that Matt\u2019s boss (Bryan Cranston) won\u2019t stand for that, Matt has to fire the revered filmmaker.<\/p>\n

\"An <\/p>\n
\n

\u201cI wish he\u2019d interrupted us and be like, \u2018Do it this way, boys,\u2019 \u201d says Evan Goldberg about working with Martin Scorsese, who made a cameo in the first episode.<\/p>\n

(Apple)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

\u201cNarratively, his existence just ups the stakes of everything, which is why we wanted him,\u201d Perez says. \u201cGetting Martin Scorsese to do the Kool-Aid movie would be the happiest day of your life, objectively, and then firing him would be the worst day of your life. But you wouldn\u2019t feel that about everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogen and Goldberg didn\u2019t meet Scorsese before filming. \u201cI honestly was afraid he just wasn\u2019t going to show up,\u201d Rogen says.<\/p>\n

When he did arrive, they found he was a surprisingly good improviser.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so funny,\u201d Rogen says. \u201cLike, I\u2019ve been on \u2018Curb Your Enthusiasm\u2019 and improvised with Larry David and some of the greatest comedic improvisers that are walking the Earth. I\u2019ve been very fortunate to work with some of the best and he legitimately was as funny and quick as any person I\u2019ve ever improvised with on camera before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldberg and Rogen do have a wishlist of people who they hope will show up in future seasons, and Rogen was confident enough to put one dream on the record: Vin Diesel. \u201cI am trying to say it publicly to make sure he sees it,\u201d Rogen says with his trademark chortle. \u201cI want Vin Diesel more than anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s great. I love him, and he fills such a specific role in the industry. It would be fun also to see him not in a \u2018Fast and Furious\u2019 movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For his episode of \u201cThe Studio,\u201d Ron Howard really wanted to do his best. The director of \u201cA Beautiful Mind\u201d \u2014 a former child star \u2014 was playing himself in Apple TV+\u2019s Hollywood comedy, created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, about a beleaguered executive portrayed by Rogen. But this Ron Howard was an alternate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1966324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1966323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Studio-creators-explain-why-they-cast-guest-stars-like.com2Fce2F2a2Fae0278664ebea8c834954a73.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1966323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1966324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1966323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1966323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1966323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}