The movie that influenced ‘The Studio’: “Oddly enough, it was one of our biggest visual references”
During the darkest of times, sometimes the best cure is a chance to punch up and make fun of the world’s richest and most powerful people, something that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg achieved through their recent original series, The Studio.
While Hollywood is often painted as the pinnacle of grace and decorum, the industry is nowhere near earning this label, with more mess and madness than a primary school playground.
It’s a ridiculous business defined by lucrative deals, excessive salaries, poorly written scripts that are somehow made into multi-million dollar franchises, and absolutely something that deserves to be taken down a peg or two and made fun of. The people in the business are sometimes worse than the structures that define it, with certain A-list actors becoming mad with power after having their egos inflated to unhealthy levels, sometimes behaving in immoral and illegal ways that are excused by everyone else in their circle.
For this reason, there has perhaps never been a time in which people are more exhausted of the bullshit that comes with the business, with the public starting to grow sick of celebrity culture at a time when everything that comes with it seems completely meaningless. There are wars and genocides going on, and somehow, some outlets want us to be concerned by Dakota Johnson’s dating life or what Brad Pitt wore to a press screening.
As a result, The Studio could not have come at a more perfect time, with Goldberg and Rogen creating a satirical comedy about the incompetent people at the head of a huge studio and their struggle to balance commerce and art, often leading to disastrous situations as they accidentally drug Zoe Kravitz and destroy the final shot of their most-anticipated project.
While it has a distinct look, coming across more like a play than a TV series through the long takes and handheld shooting style, Rogen described the one film that most influenced The Studio, singing the praises of the 1957 film The Cranes Are Flying.
Some have described The Studio as looking similar to Birdman (and funnily enough, both projects were scored by the same people), but Rogen said the main visual reference was The Cranes Are Flying, explaining, “The Cranes Are Flying. Oddly enough, this was one of our biggest visual references when we were making the studio. We referenced it. A lot, it has a lot of amazing long takes, a pretty wide lens”.
Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov, the film follows two lovers who come together during World War II, with the pair promising to meet one more time and having their plans thwarted, creating a war-torn romance for the ages. But perhaps the most memorable element of the film is the cinematography, with a confronting and relentless style that immerses you in the unfairness and heartbreak of this situation, creating something that you can’t look away from.
Rogen and Goldberg adopted a similar tone in The Studio, with long and wide takes that trap you in the stress of each situation the Continental team find themselves in, capturing the sheer chaos of their job and the business of filmmaking as a whole.
