1 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: This is the weekend edition of The Front. I'm Claire Harvey. 2 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:20,080 Speaker 1: There's an image of the romantic artist churning out works 3 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: of complete genius while living in poverty, the greatness of 4 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,319 Speaker 1: their work only being discovered long after their death, like 5 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: Vincent van Gore or Emily Dickinson. Then you have popular 6 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: artists who understand the power of self promotion and believe 7 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 1: there is a product, like Mandy Warhol, who, when asked 8 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: how he knew a work was finished, replied when the 9 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: Czech clears. The battle between art and commerces raged for centuries. Now. 10 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:51,200 Speaker 1: In Apple TVs Smash It show, The Studio, Seth Rogen 11 00:00:51,280 --> 00:01:07,759 Speaker 1: and Evan Goldberg take a brutal and hilarious look at Hollywood. Well, 12 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: I'm joined by the France Christen Amiot and Bianca far 13 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: Marcus to talk about Apple TV's latest parody of Hollywood. 14 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:16,919 Speaker 1: It's called The Studio and it's made by Seth Rogen 15 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: and Evan Goldberg. 16 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, honored, Obviously, you know I love movies, but now 17 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 2: I have this fear that my job is to ruin them, 18 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 2: the job as a meat gracker. 19 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: It comes in the tradition of a long line of 20 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: satires of Hollywood made by Hollywood, often featuring superstars. My 21 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: favorite of the genre is Tropic Thunder Ben Steeler's Tribute 22 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: to Hollywood, starring Tom Cruise and a whole host of 23 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: other stars. But let's start by talking about the studio. 24 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 2: Film is my life ever since second of the studio 25 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 2: as a kid and went on the tour. Being the 26 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 2: head of Nenel is the only job I've ever wanted. 27 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 2: That is adorable. All right, Well, listen. 28 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,520 Speaker 1: The show starts with a famous studio producer who's been 29 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: sacked and the people who were jostling for her job, 30 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 1: one of whom is seth Rogen. 31 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 2: Oh I've heard you are really into artsy, fartsy filmmaking. 32 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 3: Bullshit Me. 33 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,079 Speaker 2: Yeah, that could not be further from the truth. 34 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 4: I am as bottom line oriented as anyone in this town. 35 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: The character who's been sacked is called in the show Patty. 36 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,239 Speaker 1: We find her at her home in the Hollywood Hills, 37 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: throwing down cups of tea as if they have vodka, 38 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: because of course, this being Hollywood, she is a sober alcoholic. 39 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: She's based on Amy Pascal, who was famously the boss 40 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: of Sony Pictures, who were sacked after Sony's big hack 41 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: and she's played to perfection by Katherine O'Hara. It's a 42 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: remarkable performance, isn't it. 43 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 3: It is a remarkable performance. Katherine O'Hara, she is a 44 00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 3: titan of the industry. She has some of the best 45 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 3: medic timing I think you will find anywhere, and I 46 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 3: think a lot of her contemporaries would probably say the 47 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:05,839 Speaker 3: same thing. 48 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 2: I just want to come by, you know, see how 49 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 2: you're doing. 50 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 5: How I'm doing? 51 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 6: Oh I you know, I gave forty years of my 52 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 6: life to the studio and then the Griffin Mill, some 53 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 6: dime store. Bob Evans comes in and wants to put 54 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,119 Speaker 6: a stamp on the place, like is your an ending 55 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 6: at a hydrate? 56 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: It's so brutal, it is, but guess what, you're even worse. 57 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 4: Heart. 58 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 3: The amazing thing about the casting of the studio is 59 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 3: obviously you have Seth Rogen. 60 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: You have people like Katherine o'hari. 61 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 3: You have Katherine Hahn, who is having a bit of 62 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 3: a moment herself. 63 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: She plays a crazed a marketing executive, which you know 64 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: she does particularly well. You got Ike Baronholtz, who he 65 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: and Seth Rogan. Their chemistry together in comedy is amazing, 66 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: and you also have all of these amazed using cameos. 67 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: The premise is that seth Rogen gets the job from 68 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: a sinister and frankly terrifying studio boss, Brian Cranston, and 69 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: then he has to immediately wrestle with the problem that 70 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: lost Patty her job, which is that she refused to 71 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: make big budget, entirely commercial movies as vanity projects for 72 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: big brands. The one that he's immediately asked to make, 73 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: he's a movie about kool Aid, the soft drink, which 74 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: is kind of like being asked to make a movie 75 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 1: about Fanta and. 76 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:37,160 Speaker 5: A great film fantastic. 77 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: He initially thinks he can do it while remaining true 78 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: to his values. 79 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 3: It is a very chaotic viewer experience to see him 80 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 3: go through this kind of emotional process coming to the 81 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,080 Speaker 3: realization that he, Okay, I need to do this if 82 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 3: I want to enable these other projects that quote unquote 83 00:04:55,720 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 3: deserve to be made. He takes a diversity angle to it, 84 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 3: where he kind of reviews the people that have been 85 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 3: cast in the kool Aid movie and realize that they 86 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 3: are all very white, and so they decide that, okay, 87 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 3: we'll give it a more diverse cast. And then they 88 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 3: realize that kind of leads them into a very tokenistic area. 89 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 3: And then the writer than the director realized, well, then 90 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 3: are we the right people to be doing this? And 91 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 3: it's this insane cat and mouse process of just getting 92 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 3: this thing to cinema con so they can understand how 93 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 3: the audience feels about it. 94 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: He comes up early with what he thinks is a 95 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: genius plan when Martin Scorsese comes in to pitch a 96 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 1: movie to him, which happens to be about the Jonestown massacre. 97 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 7: Johnstowne Johnstown. 98 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 4: Now, correct me if I'm wrong. Is that the massacre 99 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 4: where everybody committed suicide by. 100 00:05:58,960 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 2: Drinking kool aid? 101 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 7: Exactly? 102 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: That's the phrase. 103 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,040 Speaker 7: They drank the kool aid, drink the kool aid, whatever 104 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 7: it is, that's the phrase. That's the climax of the picture. 105 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: It's a big, big sequence. 106 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 2: That's so in a sense, I guess you could say 107 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,279 Speaker 2: that your film is about cool aide. 108 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:25,880 Speaker 7: Well, I mean yeah, coming up our in house film 109 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:29,160 Speaker 7: school grad pokes around under the hood of the studio. 110 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: Let's talk about cinematic technique. Episode two is called Waner, 111 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: and it's about a movie being shot in one take 112 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: and the director played by Sarah Polly is very proud 113 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: that this is a true oner. It's very self referential, 114 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: isn't it, Because much of the studio is shot in 115 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: one take? Banky, you're a film school grad? Is it 116 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: fun to see a Hollywood production parodying the nerdy tendency 117 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: of Hollywood to try really difficult things like these one takes? 118 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 5: I think what's fun about it is the idea that 119 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 5: finally we can reclaim the art form people have turned 120 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 5: away from things made with CGI or you just get 121 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 5: a bit over it. There's that fatigue that everything can 122 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 5: be more or less manufactured or engineered in the back end, 123 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 5: and you know, no one wants to learn about that 124 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 5: because it's boring. But the idea that you do see 125 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 5: these idiosyncrasies come out, and this is like the process 126 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 5: that you get to lampoon and also understand is just 127 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 5: so entertaining to me. 128 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: Seth Rogen is very lovable, and that brings us to 129 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: what kind of treatment this production is giving the Hollywood 130 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: executives who are able to say yes or no to projects. 131 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: Previous versions of this kind of idea, like tropic thunder casts, 132 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: Hollywood decision makers is basically pure evil. This is not 133 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: like that, is it, Chrissy. 134 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 3: It's not. And that's probably got a lot to do 135 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 3: with seth Rogen himself. Maybe he has encountered a lot 136 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 3: of executives who are in this exact predicament in that 137 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 3: they do want to create art, but the commercial interests 138 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 3: of the industry in which they've chosen to build a 139 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 3: career simply does not allow that if they want to survive. 140 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's probably like anything, isn't it. Any 141 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 1: pursuit involves a compromise between what you really want to 142 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: be doing and what you must do to pay the bills. 143 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 5: What does that say about us as the audience? Though 144 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 5: we can all objectively say that a movie about kool 145 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 5: aid is dumb, and yet that's what keeps getting made. 146 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 5: So you think there's this disconnect between audience members like 147 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 5: us who do want that kind of you know, level 148 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 5: of kind of originality and ingenuity, that's what you expect 149 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,839 Speaker 5: from these people. Yet then you see the studio bus 150 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 5: as saying, Okay, well, this thing's going to make a 151 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 5: billion dollars guaranteed. These two groups, the audience and the entertainer, 152 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 5: seem to want the same thing, and yet we keep 153 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,560 Speaker 5: coming back to this safe, popular medium. 154 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:08,439 Speaker 1: But what's wrong with popularity? 155 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 5: You know? 156 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: Social media feeds now are full of teenage boys packing 157 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 1: out cinemas. And I've been in one of these cinemas, 158 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: throwing popcorn in the air and singing along to the 159 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 1: Minecraft movie. 160 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 6: It's the latest rallying cry from millions of. 161 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: Moviegoers, strick and trucking. 162 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 6: Those two little words, sending teenage fans of a Minecraft 163 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 6: movie into a frenzy, resulting and screaming, popcorn throwing and 164 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,680 Speaker 6: soda flying through the air in at least. 165 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: One And I kind of think, although I find the 166 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:45,559 Speaker 1: teenage boy's a bit annoying, isn't it wonderful that they're 167 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: enjoying the experience of sitting in a cinema together and 168 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:49,560 Speaker 1: having fun. 169 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think that's where the Barbie reference is 170 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 3: particularly poignant. It was very commercially successful, but ultimately it 171 00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:01,199 Speaker 3: did in many ways start a conversation a the experience 172 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 3: of women living in the world today and about feminism 173 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,400 Speaker 3: and about the patriarchy through some very funny Ryan Gosling moments, 174 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 3: and Margo Robbie quite explicitly said we wanted to make 175 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 3: a movie that would bring people back to the cinema. 176 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,199 Speaker 3: That experience of going to the movies with your friends, 177 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 3: with your family, seeing something that you either enjoy or 178 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 3: didn't enjoy it, and that you can talk about it 179 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 3: after it becomes part of the culture. So I don't 180 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:29,560 Speaker 3: think there's something negative about that, except maybe for the 181 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 3: poor people who have to go and clean up the 182 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:32,959 Speaker 3: cinemas after the Minecraft movie. 183 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,200 Speaker 1: The fact that this critique of Hollywood and exploration of 184 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: all those issues is showing on television screens at home 185 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: where we stay because we don't want to go out 186 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: to the movies anymore is also one of those circular 187 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:50,320 Speaker 1: self referential moments, isn't it. 188 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 5: They even say it in the show where he says, 189 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:54,080 Speaker 5: we should have just made this with Apple so they 190 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 5: could give us all the money and we have to 191 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 5: change nothing. 192 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:08,200 Speaker 1: Kristen Amiott is a producer on the Front and Biancophile 193 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: Marcus is a journalist and videographer at The Australian. You 194 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 1: can read here and see their work anytime at Beaustralian 195 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,600 Speaker 1: dot com dot a you. This episode of the Front 196 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: was hosted by me Claire Harvey and co produced with 197 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: Jaska League, who edited the episode and also wrote our theme. 198 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on the front this week. Our 199 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 1: team also includes Leat Sammaglu, Tiffany Dimac, Josh Burton and 200 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 1: Stephanie Coombs.