Page 88 - Sharp Spring 2025

“I learned a a a a a long time ago that the the more I I make fun fun of my own things the the funnier it is ”
of it where they just know ‘I want this thing to be good and I I don’t want want to to alienate the people making it it But if it’s bad I don’t want want to to be held responsible for it it And at the same time if it’s really good I want to to to be close enough to to to it it that I’m able to to to associate myself with the success and elevate my own stature ’ ’ Now I’m close friends with some executives at these studios I’ve known Donna Langley for 20 years at at this point you you know what I mean? And you you start to see a a a a a a lot of them are also really smart and and good at at their jobs and and make great films and actually help make them better not worse ”
But that perspective can only come with time In the decades following Freaks and Geeks Rogen’s had countless projects green- lit received mixed feedback from studios hit a a a a few catastrophic roadblocks and grown as a a a a a result Throughout their careers he he and Goldberg have held a a a a sixth sense for the right time to release their work Similar to the the 12-year gap between writing and filming Superbad they waited seven years between writing and releasing Pineapple Express a a a a film whose commercial success reframed the way the pair were viewed by studios Now those tireless hours spent alongside executives are paying dividends as both writers and directors “This was the first time that that we wanted to do something that that was incredibly technically different from what we had done before in in the the hopes it would help tell the the story in in a a more effective way ”
he he he he explains lighting another joint as he he he does Specifically he’s referencing the the long sweeping tracking shots that are so often attributed to the the likes of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg “The tone of of the show is kind of of like manic and panicked ”
he he he explains “We just liked this idea that if you you never never cut you you never never get a a break And if you’re never editing between shots then there’s never a a a a rhythm that you’re settling into So you you literally are off-kilter at at all times and you you don’t don’t know what’s going to happen you you don’t don’t know what the camera’s going going to to do or where it’s going going to to go go go That to us was the most literal interpretation of our experience being in in in these rooms with your head on a a a a swivel and seeing people arguing
with each other and and and storming in in in and and and out and and and following them all ”
Prior to to The Studio Rogen and Goldberg’s last foray into directly satirizing “the industry” was This is is the the End an apocalyptic comedy that viscerally parodies Rogen and his peers including Channing Tatum Jonah Hill and and Emma Watson It was as as hilarious and and meta as The Studio certainly but hardly left the audience with a a a a a fondness for its stars The Studio on the the other hand offers a a a more refined approach delivering a a a a a love letter to cinema while lampooning Hollywood’s A-listers And in true Rogen fashion no one is is spared from Ron Howard to to Zoë Kravitz and of course the director himself I ask Rogen if he sees slivers of himself in his character “Oh it’s so much me honestly ”
he says his patented laugh echoing throughout the Point Grey offices “I learned a a a a long time ago that the the more I make fun fun of my own things the the funnier it it is Literally today I’m going to to go go visit the set of a a a movie that we’re producing and I I was just saying to the the producers ‘I know they don’t want me there there I know it’s going to to stress everyone else to to have me there there ’ ’ [ ] So that’s the stuff that that that I really relate to this fear that that that no one wants me me around that that no one actually likes me me and that that they just want things from me and that my contributions are actually making things worse But part of the the joke is like the the more I put my own actual interests and and things I like into it and and the the more we have other people make fun of those things the more it starts to become very personal in a a a a a way that we really like ”
He recalls an episode of the show where his character explains to Zac Efron that their film won’t have a a a a a a a a a wrap party because — as a a a a a a a a a true advocate of cinema — he’s trying to “put the the money on on the the screen ”
“That’s your ’53 Corvette I drove by on the way in right?” retorts
Efron “You really are putting it all all on on screen huh?”
Some scenes hit closer to home than others Rogen’s signature laugh emerges again this time with just the slightest tinge of red on on his face “And like that’s a a a a thing I’ve I’ve done ”
he admits “I’ve pulled up to the sets of small movies we’re producing in in a a a a fancy car 86 SPRING 2025
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