As we prepare for the 32nd Actor Awards presented by SAG-AFTRA, Backstage is breaking down this year’s film and television ensemble nominees for your consideration.
Main cast: Ike Barinholtz‚ Kathryn Hahn‚ Catherine O’Hara‚ Seth Rogen‚ and Chase Sui Wonders
Casting by: Melissa Kostenbauder and Francine Maisler
Created by: Evan Goldberg‚ Alex Gregory‚ Peter Huyck‚ Frida Perez‚ and Seth Rogen
Distributed by: Apple TV
On the comedy’s debut season, co-creator Seth Rogen headlines a heavenly host of actors. Playing movie executives at the fictional Continental Studios, they try to make great cinema while battling the bottom line (and their own failings).
Their funniest flex: the two-episode finale titled “CinemaCon” and “The Presentation.” On the eve of unveiling Continental’s new production slate to the world, studio head Matt Remick (Rogen) accidentally overdoses everyone with a buffet of hallucinogenic drugs. It leads to a screwball search for missing CEO Griffin Mill (guest star Bryan Cranston), who’s been drugged into another dimension. On top of that, the team has to prepare an incapacitated Zoë Kravitz for her CinemaCon appearance.
Rogen, the master of drug-induced neuroticism, sweats through a disaster of his own making. Kathryn Hahn, as flamboyant marketing head Maya Mason, scolds his lack of professionalism while dragging on a blunt the size of a mozzarella stick. Ike Barinholtz, playing slick exec Sal Saperstein, twitches between arched eyebrows of concern and curled lips of outrage.
As ambitious junior executive Quinn Hackett, Chase Sui Wonders flips between trying to be a team player and screaming at her boss through chocolate-smeared teeth. And Patty Leigh, the jaded producer played by chameleon Catherine O’Hara, sees an opportunity to take revenge on Griffin, who had fired her on the first episode; the gears behind her eyes turn Wile E. Coyote–style.
Every member of this starry ensemble blazes brilliantly, forming a comedy constellation unlike any other on TV.