This is no Hollywood flop. Thanks to its widespread critical acclaim and audience popularity, The Studio was recently picked up for Season 2 on Apple TV+. Although the series is a satirical examination of the artistic corruption of Hollywood in contemporary times, the streaming comedy by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg features some impressive visual feats of filmmaking that put most blockbusters to shame. Rounded out by an all-star cast and a noteworthy group of celebrity cameos playing themselves, The Studio has delighted fans disinterested in the palace intrigue of Hollywood and enhanced discussions between industry insiders.
After bursting out of the gate early, Season 1 has taken a slight dip in quality, primarily due to its emphasis on touching on talking points rather than developing its characters, with the main casualty being the young go-getter executive at Continental Studios, Quinn (Chase Sui Wonders), who deserves a greater spotlight in the forthcoming Season 2. In a show about unrelatable and outlandish studio heads, Quinn is a refreshing source of grounded insight into the wonder and dread of filmmaking.
Chase Sui Wonders Stands Out From the Star-Studded Cast of ‘The Studio’
The cast list of The Studio is a never-ending array of big names and innate star power, starting with its principal cast members, including Rogen, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, and Catherine O’Hara. In addition, each individual cameo, notably Martin Scorsese, Sarah Polley, Greta Lee, Ron Howard, Olivia Wilde, Dave Franco, and Zoë Kravitz, is worthy of an Emmy nomination. It would be easy for the relatively unknown actors to get overshadowed, but Chase Sui Wonders has become the breakthrough star amid this all-star lineup.
Wonders plays Quinn, the former assistant to the new Continental Studios head, Matt Remick (Rogen), and recently promoted junior executive under the new leadership. While mostly on the periphery of the narrative, her stand-out episode was in Episode 5, “The War,” where Quinn sought to upend the power structure at Continental by waging war against Matt’s second-in-command, Sal (Barinholtz). As Sal was trying to greenlight a soulless rip-off of Smile by hiring its director Parker Finn, Quinn, a more nuanced cinephile, advocated for Owen Kline, the director of the A24 indie dramedy Funny Pages, to be hired to make a more artfully-minded project. This conflict results in a series of professional sabotages dished back and forth between Sal and Quinn.
Chase Sui Wonders Brings a Grounded Sense of Reality to ‘The Studio’
Best known for the Max Original comedy series, Generations, and the 2022 horror-comedy, Bodies Bodies Bodies, the 28-year-old Chase Sui Wonders doesn’t have the same wealth of experience and industry baggage as her illustrious co-stars, but this only makes her presence all the more integral to The Studio. Wonders, whose previous work taps into the Gen Z experience, brings that unique energy to Rogen and Goldberg’s series about an aging legacy studio desperately trying to keep up with the rapidly evolving times. Matt Remick, a passionate movie buff since his youth, who has been forced to treat films like commodities and break the hearts of his idols, shares a kinship with Quinn, who best captures the paradox of working in show business. She simultaneously represents the euphoria of studio filmmaking and being the creator of dreams and the dread of having to acquiesce to corporate demands. The balance between infectious passion and pervasive skepticism in her job speaks to the Gen Z attitude.
“I’m constantly seeing things and thinking, ‘This would be a great plot point for The Studio,'” Wonders said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Wonders, because of the lower-rung status of her character and relative anonymity among the cast, provides the richest source of verisimilitude in The Studio. Despite show business being her dream destination, she finds herself “at odds with the false idols in this business,” and the cynicism of Hollywood tricking you into “chasing after something that’s just an empty void.” For Rogen and Goldberg, the absurdity of Hollywood is good for a punchline, while for young actors like Wonders, it’s likely more of a horrifying reality.
Quinn in ‘The Studio’ Highlights the Flaws of the Hollywood System
Throughout The Studio, Quinn is a refreshing change of pace from the usual farcical satire. While her co-stars are frequently spewing one-liners that reveal their obtuseness, insecurity, and egoism, Wonders seems to be the only actor playing a real person. Episode 5, “The War,” is perhaps the most unheralded episode of Season 1 (primarily due to the lack of noisy star power), but it’s our lone depiction of Quinn’s personal life, which deserves further exploration in the upcoming follow-up season. However, the disrespect she receives throughout the episode is as harsh an indictment of the politics of Hollywood as any scene featuring Matt trying to deliver unflattering news to a filmmaker. Quinn’s denied entry into Continental Studio’s parking garage shows the mundane but dispiriting realities of working as a junior executive. You’re expected to be a go-getter when you’re young, but Sal tries to crush Quinn’s dreams by telling her to remain silent in meetings.
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Due to its subject, The Studio has drawn in a cinephile audience more selective with their television watching. While the film-buff crowd will draw parallels to real-life executives who fancy themselves as artists, and the business heads who view movies as a cheap commodity, Quinn is their audience avatar. In “The War,” she proudly boasts her cinephilia and film school experience to her Philistine colleague, Sal, who glibly dismisses the prospect of making arthouse movies. Where, in most sectors of society, people who wax poetic about A24 and have a favorite cinematographer are viewed as insufferable snobs, Quinn’s highbrow film appreciation makes her an outcast and a heroic underdog in this world corrupted by greed.
If not for Quinn, The Studio, featuring an ensemble of delusional idealists like Matt and cynical empty suits like Sal and marketing head Maya Mason (Hahn), would be an onslaught of heavy-handed satire. Quinn, who frequently stands up to the idiocy of her superiors, is an inspirational figure in the workforce and a grounded insight into the broken world of Hollywood filmmaking. While the other characters may dismiss her, The Studio should make sure to expand the presence of Quinn and breakout star Chase Sui Wonders in Season 2.
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