Last week’s episode 3 of the AppleTV+ satirical comedy series, The Studio, made me fear that the series is stuck in a rut creating problems for its protagonist, Matt Remick, and then showing him having to deal with these troubles in a twisted and compensative manner. However, episode 4 once again brings in a fresh perspective and doubles down on the commendable stylistic choice of the visuals and the narrative of the episode following the same conventions of the genre of cinema that is being dealt with in the particular plot. The Studio episode 4, has Matt Remick having to investigate the case of a missing film reel from the set of a neo-noir film being shot at Continental Studios before time runs out, as he desperately wants to avoid being remembered as ‘the man who killed film.’
Spoiler Alert
Why is the missing film reel so important to Matt?
The Studio episode 4 begins inside the projection room at one of the screening theaters at Continental Studios, where the studio head, Matt Remick, walks in to watch the dailies, which are essentially all the footage shot throughout the day, on film instead of digitally. Matt’s studio has been making a film titled “Rolling Blockout,” and he is immensely proud of it because it is being shot on film. The protagonist is an immense fan of analog cinema, as he very openly expresses at the beginning of the episode, for he believes that the chemical photography involved in the whole process brings a certain character to the screen. The grains in every frame that are visible when celluloid is projected on the big screen make everything about the film appear alive and exciting to Matt, and he is extremely passionate about the old form of filmmaking.
This is why Matt also takes immense pride in the fact that he is one of the only film producers in the market who allows and encourages analog filmmaking, because of which directors always know to come to his studio if they want to shoot anything on film. He genuinely believes that he is still doing the respectable work of keeping film alive and analog filmmaking in existence in the modern age of digital technology. The technician in the projection room does not really share the same level of enthusiasm as Matt, and he is quite frustrated at the fact that the studio head has been coming to watch the dailies ever since this particular film has been in shooting. As he explains, projecting a reel of celluloid takes a lot of effort and attention that he is simply not used to anymore, while screening digital films literally takes the push of a button. The technician’s lack of interest does not dampen Matt’s mood, though, and he gets ready to experience the marvelous appeal of cinema.
Just then, he receives an urgent call from his friend and executive, Sal Saperstein, who informs him of an unusual situation at the studio. A reel of film used in the “Rolling Blockout” shoot has suddenly gone missing from the studio, and one of the most important parts of the film had been shot on this reel as well, making it a great travesty. Although Matt is initially a bit hopeful that the reel must have been misplaced or temporarily lost because of carelessness, Sal and the film’s line producer, Jean-Paul, are almost certain that it has been stolen by someone. It is difficult for the protagonist to wrap his head around why someone would steal a reel of film that had already been shot over, but Sal reminds him that there can indeed be a couple of reasons. Firstly, the cast and crew of the film have been expressing disappointment in Matt for not allocating any funds for the wrap-up party, which is very close by, since this happens to be the last day of the shoot. Matt does not hide the fact that shooting on film is incredibly expensive, because of which he has already spent a lot of money on the production and does not have any budget left to fund any party.
Next, and perhaps more importantly, it is suggested that the other studios might be envious of the success and the business that Continental Studios achieve because of their support of analog filmmaking and how they are essentially able to poach directors away from them because of it. Therefore, it could be that some of the other studios might have paid a worker to steal the reel and bring a sudden halt to the production of the film, which would lead to tremendous losses for Continental. This is why Matt suggests that they do not officially report the reel to be missing, as it would incur heavy losses for the studio and also put a dent in the analog style of filmmaking.
As Sal reminds him, the possibility of reels being misplaced or stolen so easily might soon be cited as one more reason to shift to digital filmmaking completely, and this would make the analog style totally out of use. Since the world would know that such a travesty took place after Continental Studios could not responsibly hold on to the reels being used on their sets, everyone would blame Matt Remick for the matter. Sal chips in that this would make Matt ‘the man who killed film,’ and therefore hated by cinephiles and fans of the analog style, because of which he grows extremely concerned about the situation. It is in order to avoid being branded as such a villainous producer, and also because he himself is passionately in love with analog filmmaking, that Matt grows so determined to find the missing film reel and carries out his personal investigation along with Sal.
Is Zac Efron The Real Perpetrator?
Matt and Sal soon get involved with the film’s cast and crew as part of their investigation, beginning with the director of “Rolling Blockout,” Olivia Wilde (Booksmart, Don’t Worry Darling). Wilde is absolutely heartbroken to know that the reel from the previous day’s shoot is missing, and she repeatedly mentions how integral the content of this reel is to her film. The climactic shootout between the hero of her film and his enemies had been shot on this very reel, and it also contained her cameo as well, which was a suggestion dropped by Matt. Therefore, the director makes it very clear that she expects that all the relevant scenes will be reshot if the reel cannot be found by the end of the day, and hopes that the film insurance can cover the expenses. However, Matt wants to avoid any reshoots, as that would make the CEO of the studio feel analog shooting to be a waste of resources.
When Matt asks Olivia Wilde if there was any hostility or unfriendly behavior among any of the cast or crew members, she vehemently refutes the suggestion that someone in the production unit might have stolen the reel. Wilde stresses how everyone felt like a part of one big family during the film’s shoot, but it is revealed later on that she and her lead actor, Zac Efron, had been having some trouble with each other. This seems to be a sly reference to the troubled production of Olivia Wilde’s 2022 film, Don’t Worry Darling, during which she reportedly had a major clash with her lead actor, Florence Pugh. But when asked about the clash in later interviews, Wilde completely denied the allegations and claimed that everyone had felt very united during the production.
Because of this supposed tiff, and also because the actor was one of the most notable people who had been seen around the photography unit after the shoot ended, Zac Efron is considered to be the prime suspect in the case. When Matt investigates Efron’s vanity trailer, he even finds an envelope full of cash lying around, which he believes to be the money that the actor must be paying someone to sabotage the production because of his hatred for Wilde. He and Sal then spot the costume designer, Evelyn Dietrichson, take the money from the vanity trailer and then get hold of a suspicious-looking box from a smokehouse away from the studio. The duo then follow her to a hotel, where Zac Efron has also been incidentally staying during the shoot, and this makes Matt all the more confident that the actor must be the one behind the whole fiasco.
Matt temporarily has to believe that Sal is involved in the sabotage as well when the executive suddenly lies about having to return home while he actually takes a cab back to the hotel. But when he confronts Sal and Efron about the film reel, a different secret is revealed. Since Matt had refused to fund the wrap party, Zac Efron had decided to host a party with the cast and crew at the hotel where he was living, and it was for this party that he had paid Dietrichson, for she was to bring memorabilia hats for each of the crew members. Therefore, the suspicious box that she had carried does not contain the stolen film reel but just harmless hats, and Zac Efron is not the real perpetrator. Incidentally, Matt Remick and Olivia Wilde were the only two individuals who had not been invited to the party, as Efron did not like either of them.
Who had stolen the film reel and why?
Some time earlier, Matt had seen a photo of Efron from the previous night, in which a hand with a tattoo could be seen behind him. Now at the wrap party, Matt sees the same tattoo on the hand of a man and immediately confronts him, only to learn that it was a temporary tattoo given to the actors playing the roles of rogues in a motorcycle gang in the film. When this actor mentions that the tattoo can only be removed with rubbing alcohol, this is when things suddenly fall into place. Sal had earlier smelled some alcohol on Wilde, and although he has a rare talent of being able to identify the brand of alcohol just by its smell, he could not figure out the source of this particular odor. Now, Sal suddenly realizes that Wilde had been smelling of rubbing alcohol, as she had made a cameo in the film as one of the goons of the motorcycle gang.
Based on this information and the fact that Wilde was actually not happy with Efron’s performance in the climax scene, Matt figures out that it was the director herself who had stolen the film reel. When he and Sal rush to the last shoot location and confront Wilde with their theory, she reveals that this was indeed the case. Although Matt had given her the permission to go all in during the final scene of the film, she had held back on her creative vision initially but eventually felt dissatisfied by the outcome. She now wanted Efron’s character to wield a machine gun and perform heavy action stunts during the scene, because of which she wanted to reshoot it.
While reshooting is just a simple affair in digital filmmaking, that is certainly not the case while shooting on film, and it was because of this that she had to go through this whole fiasco of stealing the reel and keeping it hidden. With the advancement of technology, redoing the execution of a shot idea or trying out multiple styles of execution has become very easy and commonplace, but when Wilde decided that she wanted to shoot the climax again, she knew that the producer would not accept such a whim because of the sheer expense involved. Thus, she had taken away the reel and tried to make the whole thing look like a mysterious theft.
What does Matt do to save the future of analog cinema?
Even at the end of The Studio episode 4, Matt Remick remains incredibly determined to ensure that analog film shooting does not ever become obsolete or fall out of use. He spends the entire episode investigating the matter in the typical style of neo-noirs, often leaning on buildings soaked with neon signs late in the evening. As his therapist had suggested that he record his thoughts whenever in a difficult situation, Matt often pulled out his phone and recorded updates on the investigation, which instantly felt similar to the grim and serious background narrations of the protagonists’ thoughts used in noir and neo-noir films. In typical spy thriller fashion, he then also infiltrated Efron’s party by pretending to be a server. Therefore, it was very obvious that Matt would do just about anything to protect his beloved technique of shooting on celluloid film. Thus, at the end of episode 4, he sells off his car to Zac Efron for two million dollars, which he then uses to let Olivia Wilde shoot the climax scene once again, ensuring that analog films live on, after all.
