The Studio (2025) s01e03 Episode Script

1
I am so excited
about watching this film. [chuckles]
It's so weird that the first time
we're seeing the movie
it's essentially already finished.
Yeah, that's what happens
when you're a final-cut director
like Ron Howard, you know?
You win two Oscars, you make
some movie that made billions of dollars,
- you can kinda do whatever you want.
- Oh, God. I love final-cut screenings.
I don't have to give notes.
We're not gonna need to give notes.
This shit's gonna be perfect.
- I love Ron Howard.
- Yeah.
- [sighs] A Beautiful Mind.
- Oh, yeah.
When you realize that Paul Bettany
is imaginary, my head exploded.
That is a plot twist!
Fuck M. Night Shyamalan.
Yeah. It's s-such a good plot twist.
[chuckles]
All right, fam! Let's roll this shit!
So effin' pumped.
Ronald Howard movies are a fucking mood.
And then a fucking action movie.
[exclaims] We've got Anthony Mackie.
He's gonna bring in that young,
hip audience.
I'm obsessed with Anthony Mackie.
Then you've got Dave Franco.
He's gonna line up those ladies
moister than an oyster.
Please do not say that.
Okay, can we dim
the fucking lights, please?
I got a meeting
with the D'Amelios after this.
- Let's do this thing! [chuckles]
- These happy days are ours, bitches!
Let's go.
["Long Black Road" playing on screen]
[music continues on radio]
- [passenger panting] Drive! Hey! Drive!
- [driver] Hey. Whoa, take it easy.
- Hey, I don't know where you're going.
- Fucking anywhere! Just fucking go, man!
- All right. There's no need to yell.
- Just fucking drive!
- Mother-- Oh, shit!
- Fuck!
- [groans] Fucking drive, man!
- Look, I don't-- Oh!
- Oh, shit!
- [gunshots]
[passenger] Go!
Oh, shit! Oh, shit!
- [tires squealing]
- [gunshots]
- [passenger] Oh, shit!
- Oh, shit!
[tires squeal]
[music continues]
Find me that fucking cab.
- [chuckling] Yeah! Are you kidding me!
- Okay, Ron! Okay!
- That is how you start a movie.
- Wow.
- Yes.
- Pretty fucking good.
Okay. [shushes]
- Just pull the bullet out of my gut.
- I'm not doing that.
I'll give you $10,000!
You're a dumbass! I could wait for you
to die and take the whole thing.
I'd fucking kill you if you did that!
- [shouts] Please, help!
- All right, fine.
All right. Let me go across the street
to the dim sum spot,
- get some chopsticks.
- Yeah. Get me some shrimps. I'm starving.
[audience laughing]
Don't forget the fortune cookies!
This is playing a lot funnier
than I thought it was going to. [laughs]
Yeah. This shit slaps.
You and me, we're not so different.
Got people we loved.
People we let down. [inhales deeply]
People we lost.
[exhales sharply]
But it ain't over for us.
[breathes shakily]
Okay, just because we did bad
doesn't mean we can't still do some good.
[Quinn sniffles]
[Matt breathes shakily]
- [sniffles]
- [Quinn whimpers]
[Matt sighs]
[breathes heavily]
Get out of the car!
[gangster] There's no way out!
Don't even think about it!
Fuck it.
[tires squealing]
[screams]
Fuck yeah!
- [Quinn] No way! No way!
- [Maya] No.
- What a fucking ending! That was unreal.
- [Quinn] What just happened? What?
- That was incredible.
- Oscars!
- That's Ron Howard's best movie.
- One of the best endings I've ever seen.
- [Maya] I am stunned. I'm stunned.
- [Matt] Wait. There's more, there's more.
- [Maya] Okay, let me sit.
- [Quinn] Amazing. [sighing]
[Sal] Ooh.
Yeah, this is a little, uh
- [Matt] Just a little Just a little PS.
- a little motel tag. Postscript.
- [Matt] Yeah.
- [Maya] Yeah.
[Matt] Oh, my God.
It's the kid from the picture.
[Quinn yawns]
["If You Could Read My Mind"
playing on screen]
[sighs]
[Maya] Oh, fuck. It's finally over.
- What the fuck was that, huh?
- I don't know.
- Okay, it's definitely long.
- Yeah!
[Quinn] But a lot of movies
are long these days, you know?
Like, the last Marvel movie I saw
was three fucking hours--
Marvel movie? This was not a three-hour
fucking superhero movie. Okay?
That motel sequence?
What the fuck was that, man?
There were no, like,
monsters or fights or Deadpools.
It was just people
fucking staring at each other.
Yeah, it's too long.
You gotta be delulu
if you think people are gonna watch that.
This is gonna make my job
fucking impossible
'cause it's gonna destroy word of mouth.
Wait, is this the final cut?
No, Ron's still tweaking
with a few little things.
Great. So you can give him
that note to cut
that fucking interminable motel sequence.
Uh-huh. [stammers] Yeah, uh-huh.
Yeah, yeah.
- Wait, what? Why are you acting so weird?
- What?
- Are you delulu?
- No, I'm not delulu.
Hey, I think
that motel sequence sucks, okay?
- O-Okay. Okay.
- Yeah.
Well, Ron is coming by
at one o'clock for a marketing meeting.
Just gonna show him
some early poster concepts.
Just pop by and give him the note then.
Okay, well, before we start giving
legendary directors notes willy-nilly,
we should drill down. You know, make sure
it's actually like a very valid note.
I mean, now that I think about it,
maybe that motel sequence,
maybe it's not that bad, right?
- Oh, it's bad. It's bad.
- What? Dude, it's terrible.
- And if you cut it, the movie is perfect.
- It's bad.
Well, maybe we're just not getting it.
Ron is a very thoughtful filmmaker.
So-So-So the kid is Anthony Mackie's
character's dead son,
so it's like a visual metaphor for
for his dead son?
No, no, no.
It's obviously a dream sequence.
- He was a ghost.
- A ghost?
The kid was a ghost.
We can't even agree on
what the fuck it means.
That is the clear sign
that this movie is wack as fuck.
It's true.
You seem to have a good handle
on this thing
Yeah, I do.
so maybe you should give Ron
the note in the meeting. You know?
Oh, hell no, bitch.
No, you-you A director is not gonna
fucking take a note from marketing. Matt
I'm sorry. What is the problem?
Isn't Ron Howard famously
the nicest man in Hollywood?
Well, that's the thing is you know.
He actually has a reputation
for being very nice and humble.
But I've heard from, you know, sources,
that he is actually, like,
a mean, vindictive asshole.
- Ron Howard? Name your source.
- What?
That's what I've heard.
That's wh I don't wanna I
That's what I heard, okay?
Oh, okay. Does he get mean sometimes?
- Does Opie get mean?
- He gets mean.
- Why are you acting weird about this?
- I'm not acting weird about it.
You give brutal studio notes all the time.
And it's usually to people who hate you.
But Ron Howard actually
seems to fucking like you.
- Yeah, I'd like to keep it that way, huh.
- Dude.
Look, I'll give him the note, okay? Fine.
- I'll just give him the note.
- He's coming at 1:00.
Okay, I'll give him the note at 1:00.
[exhales deeply]
Ron Howard is in the lobby.
Oh, shit. He's-He's 15 minutes early.
Should I tell him to leave?
No, that's okay. I'll-I'll-I'll come down
and say hi in a minute.
[breathing deeply]
[inhales deeply] Ron.
- [Ron] Oh, hey. Hey.
- Hey.
- Great to see you.
- Likewise.
Just wanted to tell you in person
how much we adored the film.
It's so good, man. And we're so lucky
to have you on our team here.
- Well, thank you. That's so kind.
- Yeah, no, my pleasure.
Well, you know, I've, uh
I've been showing it to people and stuff,
and, uh, been getting
some very encouraging feedback.
That's great. Hey, I love feedback. Yeah.
- Well, as long as it's good, right?
- Exactly. Good feedback.
- That's the best feedback. [chuckles]
- Hell, yeah.
- Hell, yeah. [chuckles]
- Yeah. [chuckles]
So, uh, what, you-you got any feedback?
Yeah, uh, actually I do.
Um and that is
- you rule, man. [laughs]
- Oh. [laughs]
There's my feedback. You rule. [chuckles]
- I'll take that all day long.
- I'll give it all day.
Yeah, great. Awesome.
There you go. All right.
I just gotta run back upstairs real quick.
I I'll see you in the meeting.
- I gotta make a call anyway.
- Great. You do that.
I'll see you in a sec.
Oh, fuck. Sorry! Sorry. Sorry about that.
- [Sal] How'd it go?
- Really good.
- Really good?
- Uh-huh.
- What happened?
- Uh, we talked. It went well.
- [Maya] Hey, what's the D?
- The D is, uh, all gravy.
- [Quinn, Sal] It's all gravy?
- Uh-huh.
- Yeah.
- What does that mean?
It means we talked and it was
it was very, very nice.
[Maya] Uh, you didn't tell him, did you?
- Did you give him the note?
- You told him, right?
No, look at his pussy-ass face.
He didn't say shit.
I opted out of delivering the note.
- [Maya groans] There you go.
- [Sal] Jesus Christ.
I decided it was not prudent
of me to do it.
- What? Why?
- Because I'm known as being
the most talent-friendly studio head
in all of Hollywood.
And I decided, strategically,
it was not worth risking that reputation.
- I don't think you have that reputation.
- What are you talking about?
It is literally your job to do this.
We need this movie to work.
I can't sell this never-ending snory.
[chuckles] Nailed it.
Here's what you don't understand,
that I have now grown, too, as a leader.
You know, you do not send your general
out to the front lines to die.
The strategically smart thing to do is
you send in expendable cannon fodder.
Sal, you fucking do it.
- I'm not cannon fodder. Fuck you!
- Fuck you. You are!
- I'm not doing it. I can't do it.
- I think he should. You got to.
I was sleeping during the motel sequence.
You were fucking texting. You text
and sleep at the same fucking time?
- Yes, I do. I sleep like that.
- absolute bullshit.
I will fucking do it. I will do it.
I will do it, okay?
Because, unlike you guys, I'm not a bitch.
I don't care if Ron Howard likes me.
I care about making good,
entertaining movies.
We're not out to ruin this guy's life.
We're trying to save him from himself.
Yeah. Pop off, girl. [imitating gunfire]
Quinn, I love what you are saying.
It's very validating to me as a mentor.
- I'm very proud of you right now.
- Feels good.
Here's what's gonna happen.
I'll introduce you to Ron,
and you just tell him
this whole motel shit is fucking wack!
- Yeah. All right. Okay.
- You got this.
- This is your time to shine. Okay?
- Yeah.
- I'm excited to see this.
- Yep. Okay. Thanks.
[gasps] Oh, fuck.
- What is he doing here? No, no, no.
- It's fine. This changes nothing.
- I can't. [groans]
- No, you can do this.
- This is good. You got this.
- He's my favorite actor.
- You got two moments that you put
- Hey. How's it going?
- Hey, Matt. How's it going?
- Mackie, I wasn't expecting you here.
Well, I'm a producer on the movie,
so I came by to see
what the poster art's looking like.
- Absolutely.
- Great. Well,
- you're so good in the film.
- [Quinn] So good.
It's not me.
Ron Howard is a bad motherfucker.
- [all chuckle]
- There's your poster, right?
How rude of me. I'm sorry. This is one
of our young up-and-coming executives.
She's a real cinephile.
This is Quinn Hackett.
Hi. Hi. Hi, Mr. Mackie.
I'm such a big fan of yours, so
- I'm into cinephilia too.
- [all chuckle]
Oh, my God. I like cinephilia. [chuckles]
Oh, my God. Wow. [chuckling]
Quinn actually, uh, saw the film.
- Oh, amazing. Yeah.
- Yes, yes. Mmm.
- What did you think?
- Oh.
- [chuckles] You, uh
- Yeah.
Your acting's so good.
- Thanks.
- Yeah, I just
Man, when you act, it's like
[imitates explosion] It's so good.
- Again, thanks.
- [Quinn] Of course, yeah.
You're welcome, of course.
- Hmm.
- Is that it?
Yeah. [sighs]
Wasn't there one more thought
you had upstairs you wanted to share
- with, uh, the team?
- Um, well I
- Yeah.
- Yeah. Well, just It's small.
- It's not, um, anything big.
- Yeah.
It's just, uh, um [sighs]
The Hurt Locker was so good.
It's an amazing piece of cinema.
- Yeah, well, it it certainly was great.
- [Quinn] Yes.
It's, uh, tremendous.
- Second-best movie I ever did.
- Oh.
[all laugh]
There is There's actually There's
one more thing actually, we wanted to say,
uh, about the film.
Oh. Sure. Uh, yeah. Well, what is it?
- Well
- Warning, warning, warning.
- Genius alert. [chuckles]
- [Ron] Oh. Patty, hey. [chuckles]
- Congrats on your new deal.
- Yeah. Thanks.
Now where are you set up?
I'm redoing the production offices
- in the old Lieberman bungalow.
- Oh.
- Nice.
- Best on the lot.
That's wonderful. Now did you get
my flowers? Purple alliums.
- I remembered. I remember these things.
- Good memory there. Yeah. [chuckles]
Thank you, Ronnie.
Thank you for sending me your cut.
Well, are you kidding?
Thank you for green-lighting the movie.
- Well, the movie is sublime.
- Mmm.
- Mmm.
- And you, sir.
Your deepest and most complex
performance to date.
I'm just happy to be
a part of this man's vision,
- that's all.
- Oh, Anthony. You-You're great.
- And the motel sequence.
- Yeah. Actually, we should talk
So startlingly original and bold.
I get it now. Thank you.
Well, thank you. I'm glad.
- So brave to share something so personal.
- [Matt] Hmm.
Oh, my Lord. If there were medals
for cinematic courage
you would have a chest full of gold.
Well, thank you.
Look, I-I thought about it and I
I just decided it was time
to put it out there.
- And you gave it time.
- [Quinn] Yes.
- You opened it up and gave it breath.
- You did.
Yeah. And you took mine away.
- Oh.
- So, thank you for that.
[secretary] Sorry to interrupt.
Marketing's ready to bring you all
into the conference room.
- [Patty] Oh, carry on then.
- Beautiful.
You're in good hands with Matty.
- Not as soft as mine.
- [chuckles]
Okay, then.
Oh, I can practically smell your Oscars.
Get those tuxedos ready, gentlemen.
[chuckles]
I'm just gonna run something
by Patty real fast.
Uh, bring these guys some snacks.
Bring 'em the whole cart. [chuckles]
Yo, Patty. I gotta talk to you about
the motel sequence in Ron Howard's movie.
Oh. Beautiful. Moving. Sublime.
Yeah. Way too long though, right?
[chuckles] Oh.
I almost drilled a hole into my brain
to kill the part of me that senses time.
What When was it ever gonna end?
Yeah, yeah. Why did you tell him
you liked it so much?
I'm on my own now, Matty.
I have to suck up to talent like
every other schmuck producer in town.
My God, this job is a daily kick
in the ovaries.
Yeah. Look, look, I gotta tell him
that I want him to cut it from the movie.
- Don't you even try. It's so personal.
- Yeah, I heard you say that.
What's so pers He didn't tell me
that it was personal.
It's so personal
he doesn't even want to talk about it.
Well, what does it mean? What is it?
The kid at the motel,
he represents a cousin Ron had
- who died when they were both young.
- [whispers] No, really?
Now, that whole sequence is about Ron
letting go of the cousin's death
and moving on.
God. That's like worst-case scenario.
No, a sibling would be worse.
Hey, I got a script about
an Australian chess team that cheats.
- Will you read it tonight?
- Will you talk to Ron
about cutting the sequence from the movie?
[chuckles] Are you kidding? No.
I'm not working on this movie.
That's a problem for you to solve, boss.
[mutters] I just don't get it.
If it's so personal to him,
why did he make it so fucking boring?
It's-It's literally insane.
He is insane. He's an artist.
Matty, you know this.
They put themselves into things.
They They project meaning onto their work,
even if it's imperceivable
to anyone else other than them.
Sly Stallone thought
that Demolition Man was an allegory
about masculinity and modernism
in a battle.
Was it?
Oh, no. No, no.
It was a 150-minute commercial
for Taco Bell.
But did his delusion
get him up every morning
and into that ridiculous
futuristic cop uniform?
It did.
My script is called Check Mate.
It's in your inbox.
Thank you, Patty.
Hi. Yeah. One sec.
Hey. Yo. Yo.
- Come with me. Come on. On me. On me!
- [Sal] We-- Okay, okay. All right.
So, uh, apparently,
the entire motel sequence is based
on Ron Howard's dead cousin.
It's like a metaphor for letting go
or some shit like that,
but we can't cut it. We're fucked.
- Wait, his actual dead cousin IRL?
- Whoa.
Yes, an actual real-life
- dead Howard family member. Yeah.
- [inhaling sharply] Fuck!
Oh, my Go I mean, this whole backstory
kind of makes this whole sequence amazing.
- [chuckles]
- This is not helpful. Not helpful at all.
He should not be burdening audiences
with his catharsis.
Go to therapy.
Save us 45 minutes of fucking runtime.
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
Remember when we were making Pre-Nup
and there was that long,
boring divorce speech?
- And I got Jay Roach to cut it
- [Maya] Oh.
- 'cause I was going through a breakup
- Yeah, yeah.
and I was able to, like,
break through to him emotionally.
If one of us had a dead cousin,
we could break through to Ron
and make him see
this is not the way
to honor your dead cousin.
So, please tell me
one of you has a dead cousin.
No. No. Not Not me.
Yeah, no.
Sal? You sure
you don't have a dead cousin?
Yeah, no. I have a cousin
who's in prison in Japan, but
But Sal
are you sure you don't have a dead cousin?
- Oh, fuck you, Matt.
- Fuck you.
- No, no, no.
- What's the big deal? Who cares.
I'm not gonna pretend
to have a dead cousin
to give Ron Howard a note
that you should give him.
Are you stricken by the morality
of the situation?
- Yeah. I'm a moral person.
- Oh, you're very moral.
- Let's talk about Albuquerque.
- [hushes] Okay.
- Why you can't go to Ten Thousand Waves.
- Let's talk about New Orleans.
- No! We don't talk about that.
- Let's talk about New Orleans.
- There is saliva! Saliva is flying. God.
- [Matt] Easy. Fine!
- What is wrong with you?
- Nothing's wrong.
- Why can't you just give him the note?
- I don't want to!
Oh, okay. Now look at you.
You look just like my son did
when I caught him
watching porn on my iPhone.
- [sighs]
- [sighs] Yep, that face.
Okay, look.
There's a reason I don't wanna give Ron
the note, and I didn't wanna tell you,
but I'll Fine, I'll tell you. Look.
In 2001, I was brand new and I got invited
to a friends and family screening
of A Beautiful Mind.
And after the screening, everyone's
sitting around and giving notes.
They're pitching ideas.
And so I raise my hand and I
and I-I-I share a thought with Ron.
- Mmm.
- Okay. And?
What was that thought?
Well, I [scoffs]
I suggested that, you know,
perhaps it would be fun
if the audience knew that Paul Bettany's
character was imaginary the whole movie.
- Spelling it out like they're idiots?
- You thought that was fun?
That's the whole twist.
I get it. It was not a great idea.
- You should've been fired!
- It was not a bad note. Okay.
It was innocent enough.
And honestly, Ron,
he fucking roasts me afterwards, okay?
He lights my ass up
in front of the whole fucking screening.
He's like, "What a dumb fucking note,
you fucking clown.
How dare you suggest something
so stupid, you dumb motherfucker."
- Ron Howard called you a motherfucker?
- Ron Howard called me a motherfucker!
To my face, man.
And all my favorite filmmakers are there
and they're fucking eating this shit up.
They're dying.
Ron is crushing with this shit.
Steven Soderbergh
slapping his leg, guffawing.
Joel Coen's chuckling
his fucking titties off.
It was honestly the worst moment
of my professional life.
And since I have no, you know,
real personal life,
it makes it just
the worst moment of my life.
Okay, okay, okay.
Does he right now know
that you are that guy?
No. See, that's the thing is
Ron has not, like, pieced together
that I am that person.
He seems to
actually really like and respect
the person that he currently thinks I am.
And I would like to keep it that way.
And so,
I'm just not gonna give him the note.
I simply can't do it. Not happening.
End of story. I'm sorry, Sal.
No.
I'm sorry. I refuse.
- Yeah, but they seem excited.
- Hey, Ron, Anthony. Sal Saperstein.
- Sal. How are ya?
- VP Production, how you doing?
How's it going?
Guys,
I just wanted to say congrats on the film.
- It's so great.
- Well, thank you.
Thank you. Appreciate that.
Really, uh, uplifted my spirits
because it has been a rough month.
Really? I'm sorry to hear that.
Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's, uh
Yeah, it's been rough.
No Well, yeah That's That's too bad.
Thank you.
Yeah, it's been rough.
Mostly to the untimely
passing of my cousin.
Ron-ald-o.
Ronaldo Saperstein.
Well, you know, sometimes, uh,
a cousin can
- can feel like a sibling.
- Yeah.
Ah. I hear that.
And that's what it
the deal was with Ronaldo and I.
You know,
he was my brother from another mother.
Who was my mom's sister.
Man, that's that's just awful.
And I'm sorry you had to go through that.
- Thanks, Ron.
- You know, honestly,
the sequence in the movie
that is set in the motel
Oh, yeah.
Well, that is kind of an ode
to my dead cousin.
- No.
- Yeah.
- So
- Oh, my God.
- Anyway, thanks for stopping by.
- Yeah.
You know, because we both have
dead cousins and for that reason only,
I-I feel comfortable saying to you, Ron,
that maybe
the whole motel sequence is too
Intense. It's too intense.
And that's kind of the point.
Well, because I want the audience to feel
uncomfortable in that sequence, you know.
I want it to fucking hit hard.
Oh, it's hitting hard.
Yeah. It really sticks out
amongst the rest of the film.
- I mean stylistically.
- Well, and again, that's
- that's the point.
- Is it?
- Well, obviously.
- Yeah.
Because I want people to really
think about that sequence.
- Mm-hmm.
- No, I want people to question it.
We-We are.
Well, because my cousin
my cousin meant everything to me.
I mean, he
he taught me how to be a man.
- Come on, Ron.
- The man I am today.
Beautiful, man.
And if this movie honors him,
in even the smallest way
then maybe I can finally put
that part of my life to bed.
[cries]
And just move on.
- [sobs]
- Come on, man. Come here. Come here.
- Thank you. Thank you, Anthony.
- Big man.
- I'm so proud of you.
- [Ron crying]
Can I get one of those?
[Anthony] Bring it in, Saul.
- [cries] It's Sal.
- [Ron crying]
I'm so fucking sorry, Ron.
We are not cutting the motel sequence.
- Are you crying? What happened in there?
- No.
Matt, when your cousin dies
you have to honor them any way you can.
Totally get that.
You don't have a dead cousin,
you fucking psycho.
I know, but for a minute
I thought I did. And I
I knew what it felt like and I get it now.
God! We are all so weak
in the face of celebrity.
- No, you two are fucking weak
- No. That was all
- [shushes]
- [gasps] Mr. Mackie, hi.
- How are you?
- [Matt, Sal] Hey.
Sorry for the interruption.
Do you have a second?
- Yeah. What do you need?
- Yeah, not at all.
Look, um, I'm sorry, Sam.
- [sighing] Sal.
- Yeah, whatever.
I know that the motel sequence
touched you personally.
And I know you guys got
a lot of love for it
- Your performance.
- You're so good at it.
I know, thanks. Shut up.
It It fucking sucks.
- That's what we think. Fucking sucks.
- Dog shit.
What are you talking about?
You can't say that.
You were just in there
crying about your dead cousin.
- I don't have a dead cousin.
- So, why did you say you had one?
Because he told me to.
What the fuck?
Look, here's the thing.
We love the film, okay.
We think this could be, like,
an all-time classic.
And yes, we think the motel
sequence derails the entire film.
Honestly, I thought you liked it.
No. I never liked it.
I didn't like it in the script.
I didn't like it when we shot it.
I didn't like it in the movie.
That's why I was waiting for you
as the head of the studio
to say he had to fucking cut it.
So go in there and tell him to cut it.
- I don't want to do that.
- That's your only job.
It's not my only
I have a lot of jobs around here.
- No, you don't.
- Yes, I do.
Just grab your balls
and go in there and do it.
You're the producer of the movie.
You do it if you don't like it.
That's not a producer's job.
I did my job as a producer.
- That is a producer's job.
- You, head of the studio
- That is your job.
- that's what you do.
Look, you make shitty movies.
I'm here to save your career.
- Help me help you win.
- Okay.
You don't want to do it.
I don't want to do it.
These two fucking geniuses
are incapable of doing it.
- Thank you very much.
- Yes.
- Good job on that.
- So sorry.
So, what if we
just don't give him the note?
You know what I mean?
Ron loves the sequence.
It seems to mean a lot for him.
Sure, it makes the movie
a little bit shaggy.
It'll be a little longer,
and a little more boring
than we would prefer,
but that doesn't mean we're fucked.
There are plenty of very long,
very boring movies
that fucking crush it at the box office.
All right, y'all. I got some
piping hot tea about this shit show of a
Oh, my God. Anthony Mackie.
The movie is a masterpiece.
I wouldn't change a fucking thing.
He also hates the motel sequence.
Yeah. This shit sucks.
Oh. Mad respect, man.
Thank fucking God.
Okay.
Exhibitor relations just saw the runtime.
They're saying it's gonna cut show times
by two screenings a day.
Theater owners do not want movies that
long unless they've got capes or aliens.
That's a minimum 15% cut to our revenue.
- Fuck.
- Fifteen.
- Griffin's gonna murder all of us.
- I'ma murder somebody.
I've got back-end on this shit.
You have to give him the note.
You have to!
The-The meeting is right now.
- Oh, shit. It's just
- You've got to.
- Look, I love Ron Howard.
- Oh, my God.
You know what I mean?
He's one of the reasons I wanted to
make movies in the first place.
Like Parenthood, you know,
Splash, Apollo 13.
I just I don't want him to hate me.
I can't go through that again.
It's very triggering.
My fucking God.
Who gives a shit if Ron Howard hates you?
He is going to be high-key kissing your
fucking ball sack if this thing is a hit.
That's all that matters to these people.
- No offense.
- No, none taken. That shit's real.
[sighs] Just give him the fucking note.
- Matt, you've got to do it.
- Just do it.
- Gotta do it.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- I'll do it.
I'll just ask him to stay
after the meeting and I'll tell him.
But you, you've got to back me up, okay?
He respects you.
- You've got to be right there with me.
- I'm with you, man.
Ten toes down,
slim pimping hoes slamming Cadillac doors.
I don't give a fuck.
I'm doing it with you.
Okay, great. Th-Th-Thank you.
All right, everyone.
This meeting is gonna be a vibe.
Alphabet City
has really got our engines revving.
Pun very much intended.
And we think
we can have a really dope run in theaters
and really break through the clutter.
And we are mad-hyped to
show you our early concepts.
Well, that's what we're here for.
So let's get to it.
Ooh, love the enthusiasm.
All right, here's the first up.
Okay.
This one, we really love
the beauty of his eyes. Look at those.
Mesmerizing with all of the beautiful
light flickering in the background.
This is very classic.
Right? Shows off the cinematography.
- It's pretty good.
- Yeah, yeah.
- It's nice.
- Okay.
Now this one, deadass lit.
New York City.
The Big Apple back in the day.
It's got grit. It's got a skyline.
We've got Lady Libs.
And also,
never forget.
Okay, what do we think?
Well, they're both totally viable.
[Maya] Thank you.
But if I may
I have an idea
that I think could be very, very cool.
[Maya] Let's hear it.
Okay. I mean
- The motel sequence.
- [Maya sighs]
You know, it's special.
We keep hearing
how much it stands out to people.
So, what if the poster is
Anthony and the kid in front of the motel?
Anthony?
I fucking love it.
- Yes! Ah, man.
- [Anthony laughs]
That is great.
You see, that's why it's fantastic
having actors who are also producers.
- Yeah.
- They really get the material.
Yeah. Exactly. They really do.
All right. So, I mean, we like it, right?
Uh, any thoughts?
Um, um, oh!
Um, Matt,
you had some thoughts about this, right?
- [Ron] Oh. Oh, really?
- [Maya] Yeah.
So, Matt, you, uh, you have thoughts?
Uh, I don't have thoughts.
[stammering]
I had one little, tiny little thoughtlet
of an idea that did pertain to that.
I was gonna ask you to stay after
and share it, yeah.
You, uh
you got a note for me?
Not a note, so much as, uh, an idea. Yeah.
You got a note for me
like you had on A Beautiful Mind?
You remember that?
Uh, yeah.
I sure do. How could I ever forget?
It's, like
It's, like, seared into my brain.
Oh, man. It's a great story.
All right. Look,
I know we're in a meeting,
but who wants to hear
a really funny story?
- [chuckling]
- Yeah. I mean, come on.
Everybody loves a story about their boss.
I don't know about that.
We've got stuff to do here.
- You know what I mean?
- So now I'm going way back, okay?
Uh, I had just finished shooting
A Beautiful Mind,
so it was like, hmm, 2001.
And we're having
a friends and family screening.
It plays great, through the roof.
Everybody loves it.
Oh, except one guy.
A young, tiny, little Matt Remick.
[Maya laughs]
Well, so, Matt raises his hand
and he actually suggests,
in front of everybody,
you know, Soderbergh, the Coen brothers
he suggests that throughout the movie
we should tell the audience
that the Paul Bettany character
is imaginary.
- Oh. Why, Matt?
- [laughing]
- What?
- Are you serious?
I mean, he literally wants me to
take the entire twist of the movie
No, no, no. No.
The entire concept of the movie
and just lay it out there.
Just spoil the living shit out of it.
- [laughing]
- So stupid.
I mean, hands down,
it was the single worst note
I've ever had in my entire life.
- So
- [cheering, laughing]
Oh, wow.
Let me, uh, let me ask you, Matt,
did you see Usual Suspects
and tell them they should keep cutting to
Keyser Söze on the phone,
laughing at the way he's
fooling the police, huh?
Or, or, or,
or did you bounce your way over to
M. Night Shyamalan,
and, you know, tell him that
what he really ought to do is
have one of the ghosts say,
"When's Bruce gonna realize he's dead?"
- No!
- [laughing]
Ooh! I got one.
He watches Fight Club and he said,
"Wouldn't it be fun
if everybody knew that Tyler Durden
was imaginary from the start?"
[laughing]
- What the fuck is wrong with you, man?
- I'm sorry, dude. This is good shit.
I mean, what the hell were you thinking?
It's a classic, right?
You want a note, Ron?
I'll give you a note.
You made a great film that you are ruining
with this self-indulgent motel bullshit.
Fuck you.
My cousin died.
You fucking suit piece of shit!
Your dead cousin deserves much better
than to be honored in the form of
a boring fucking movie, man.
- Now you-you listen to me
- [Anthony] Oh, shit. Oh, shit.
because I will never, ever
- [clamoring]
- Oh!
- You lame-ass idiot.
- Ron.
- You don't talk to me!
- Fuck you, you fucking bald prick.
I don't talk to you.
You want to talk to me?
You go get fucking Patty.
Patty's got a brain. You got nothing.
I don't even know why you're in this room.
You don't look at me.
["If You Could Read My Mind" playing]
[phone ringing]
[Matt] Holy shit.
- Hello?
- [Ron] Hey, man.
- It's, uh It's Ron Howard.
- Hey. Yeah. Hey.
Look, I want to apologize.
I shouldn't have
ruthlessly mocked you like that.
You know, I think I was so mad
because I knew you were right.
Not about A Beautiful Mind.
That was epically stupid.
- Yeah, of course. Yeah. [sighs]
- But about the motel sequence
It does not belong in this movie.
So I just called Anthony and told him.
- Yeah. Yeah, I bet. Yeah.
- He-He was devastated.
- But he gets it.
- Okay. Well, thank you.
Thank you so much for calling, Ron.
I couldn't appreciate this more, man.
You know, it's all some emotional bullshit
that I just need to get over,
but I can't let it affect my work.
Dude, a hundred percent the same thing
goes for me.
I should've just given you the note
when I saw you this morning.
Instead, I let
I let my own shit get in the way.
I shouldn't have done that.
I should not have said anything
about your cousin,
and I definitely shouldn't have
called you a bald fuck,
or whatever I said.
I'm really sorry, man.
Okay, so you accept my apology
for the insults and the hat throwing
- Yes. Great. Perfect. Fantastic.
- and I'll accept yours.
Oh, and Matt, cross me again
- Yeah.
- I'll fucking destroy you.