‘The Studio’ May Have Been Inspired by This Comedy Legend’s Behind-the-Scenes Battle

This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of The Studio. 

This week’s episode of Seth Rogen’s Hollywood satire The Studio found perpetually awkward Continental Studios head Matt Remick investigating a mystery involving a missing reel of film. The footage was seemingly stolen from the set of director Olivia Wilde’s new movie, an obvious Chinatown rip-off. 

After donning a trench coat and fedora, breaking into trailers and disguising himself as a Chateau Marmont server, Matt eventually cracks the case and discovers that the reel was, in fact, stolen by Wilde herself! It seems that she was unhappy with the footage they shot for one sequence and came up with a scheme to convince Remick to pay for the pricey reshoots.

Some have interpreted this episode’s twist ending as a meta-nod to Wilde’s real-life on-set drama during the production of 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling. But it’s also possible that Rogen and his collaborators took inspiration from an actual story involving a famous filmmaker who successfully pulled off a similar scheme back in the ‘70s: Elaine May.

Before she helmed the unfairly-maligned Ishtar and the wonderful (but sadly unavailable) The Heartbreak Kid, the comedy legend made her directorial debut with 1971’s A New Leaf. May also co-starred in the dark comedy along with Walter Matthau, playing a wealthy heiress who marries an aspiring murderer. 

But that production ended with May suing Paramount, after the film was taken away from her and re-edited by studio head Robert Evans, even though her contract gave her final cut. She lost the case, but had to deal with Paramount yet again while making 1976’s Mikey and Nicky starring Peter Falk and John Cassavettes. 

Again, the studio tried to take control of the movie despite the fact that she was granted final cut. As recounted in Carrie Courogen’s Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood's Hidden Genius, May responded by making the bold-as-fuck decision to sell the movie to an “unknown production company called Alyce Films” for 90 grand. Paramount sued her for breach of contract, she countersued, and it was eventually revealed that Alyce Films was a fake company fronted by Falk and some of May’s other friends. 

She lost the case, and New York sheriffs with “guns drawn” were sent in to retrieve the movie, which they did, only to discover that “two reels of film were missing.” May and her husband David Rubinfine were then charged with criminal contempt. 

It seems that May had Rubinfine hide the film with a friend in Connecticut, where New York sheriffs had no jurisdiction, and eventually they were returned. Although May has refused to take credit for this inspiring act of artistic defiance, only admitting that “someone” took the reels.

If Rogen’s show did take inspiration from this famous anecdote, obviously it was wildly distorted. The fictional Wilde’s actions were motivated by pettiness, and Rogen’s studio head got to be the hero — whereas May’s alleged actions were objectively awesome.