You may know him as the hilarious ex-con-turned-nurse from , or from his long stint on . Now, comedic actor has turned his attention to satire, playing a film executive in the new comedy series , which follows a struggling Hollywood movie studio and its newly appointed head of film production () and features an epic list of guest stars that includes , , , and more.
The Chicago native recently chatted with us about his role and answered questions about the show.
The Studio is different than some of the shows youƵve done. How did you get involved with the show?
Ike Barinholtz: Many, many years ago, I was talking to Seth Rogen, and he was like, ƵHey, weƵre writing a show about Hollywood. ThereƵs a part that weƵre writing for you. Will you do it?Ƶ And I was like, ƵSure.Ƶ I have learned that when Seth and Evan ask you to do something, you just say, ƵYeah.Ƶ It wasnƵt until I got the scripts, and we had a little mini-read at some pointƵ I was just so blown away by what they created, and the part that they wrote for me is just so funny and so fun and wrong, and I really fell in love.
Do you relate to your character, Sal Saperstein?
Oh, sure. Sure. I have daughters. I think Sal is a bit of a pragmatist in the sense that he thinks things are going to go one way, and when they donƵt, he instantly is able to pivot and accept the reality. In the pilot, he thinks heƵs going to get the job [as the new head of the studio]. And then when Seth gets it, right away, heƵs like, ƵOkay, my friend is now my boss. WeƵve got to work together.Ƶ In business, sometimes that can be a good way to know about things. You fight for things that you want, but when you know something is inviolate, you can either accept the reality or you can try to fight it. And from experience, I can tell you only one of those things will work smoothly.
Apple TV+
The show is very meta. How does it feel to be an actor playing someone who works for actors?
IƵve been in this business a while, and so I have a lot of friends who are or were studio executives. It was a very familiar kind of air to step in because IƵve talked to so many of them over the years. I think Seth and Evan did such a great job of keeping the environment the proper amount of self-aware. They have some moments that are a little tongue in cheek, but it was never like the tongue is poking through the cheek on the other side. I think they calibrated it the proper way.
How accurate would you say it is behind the scenes in Hollywood?
I think itƵs pretty accurate. I think itƵs pretty honest. If it was perfectly 100 percent accurate, I donƵt know if it would be a comedy, but I think in terms of making it a comedy, itƵs pretty true to how things are.
I know itƵs a comedy, but it feels very stressful at times. ThereƵs so much yelling. Is there this much yelling in studios?
That part they do keep from you. When youƵre a writer or an actor, they try not to yell, but IƵve heard stories. I have heard stories. When Seth was first showing me the concepts and everything, he was like, ƵYeah, itƵs just [going to be] beautiful locations that we shoot in a gorgeous way, and inside these locations we just have people screaming at each other.Ƶ I was thinking, ƵThat sounds like a show that I want to watch.Ƶ
WhatƵs been the most fun aspect of doing this show?
I have never shot in Las Vegas before, and I love Las Vegas. Normally, they call ƵcutƵ and then you have a couple minutes while theyƵre resetting, and normally, you kind of sit down and maybe work on your lines or talk to your castmates or read an article, but thereƵs a blackjack table like 15 feet away. So, you could literally call Ƶcut,Ƶ get a couple notes, go sit down, play five, six hands of blackjack, and then go into the next take with maybe 100, 200 bucks up. ItƵs pretty great. I highly endorse shooting in places where they have legal gambling.
There are a lot of big-name guest stars. How challenging was it to get all these directors and actors to come play themselves?
The only hard part is logistics. ItƵs very tough when you have your series regulars who are in town, but if you ask someone to do a favor, and they go, ƵYeah,Ƶ but then all of a sudden there are other job calls. I was so excited to work with a lot of these directors just because you donƵt get to act with directors a lot. Obviously, Marty Scorsese is my favorite director of all time. As everyone says to him [on the show], heƵs the reason we do this. I was so excited to work with him.
I think it was helpful that a lot of the directors they cast to play themselves were actors. Like Martin Scorsese has acted in several movies. IƵve loved Ron Howard for many years, and he was an actor but hasnƵt acted in 40 years, and he shows up and heƵs incredible. HeƵs blowing everyone else out of the water. They understood how to do it, they knew how to do it, they got the joke, and they were some of my favorite people to act with on the show.
What do you think is the main takeaway from the show?
Movies and TV shows are wonderful and important and itƵs nice to like the people you work with.
The Studio, Wednesdays, Apple TV+
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