‘The Studio’ Creators React to Bill Hader’s Jonestown Series & Scorsese Reaction Memes

Kelli Boyle April 24, 2025, 3:20 pm

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Martin Scorsese in 'The Studio'; Bill Hader at CinemaCon 2025 — Apple TV+; Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Word of Bill Hader‘s Jonestown HBO series has reached The Studio team, and they can’t believe what a “perfect” life-imitates-art moment this has created. Creators and writers Peter Huyck and Frida Perez spoke with TV Insider on April 24 about their Apple TV+ comedy that satirizes their own industry, the pilot of which features Martin Scorsese pitching a Jonestown movie that Seth Rogen‘s Matt Remmick tries to rework into the Kool-Aid movie his boss Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston) is forcing him to get made.

On April 23, it was reported that Hader will co-write and direct the HBO series about the historic event that coined the phrase “don’t drink the Kool-Aid” and potentially star as the infamous cult leader, Jim Jones. The reports noted that the series is in no way connected to Scorsese and The Studio, showing the quick place in pop culture the Apple TV+ series has already carved out for itself since its March 2025 debut.

When asked if they’ve seen the reports mentioning The Studio, Huyk told us he “just read that,” adding with a laugh that “it’s unbelievable and yet it is so believable. It’s the only thing that makes sense. It’s perfect.”

Huyck continued: “The funny thing is, I’ve known [Hader] through the years, but he’s very close with Seth and Evan [Goldberg, series co-creator and executive producer], and he obviously has been developing this for a very long time, so he must have tuned in to watch The Studio and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, everyone’s going to think I’m in on the joke or that this is a new thing.’ It’s just so funny the timing of it.”

As Perez shared, “My favorite part was, I think in the Variety article, it literally states like Martin Scorsese is not involved in this nor is Steve Buscemi.” Perez added with a laugh, “That was a peak moment.”

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“That was. That was so funny when the art imitates life, imitates art, it just comes full circle,” added Huyck. “The funny thing is, that movie idea is a great idea for a movie and it should be made and Scorsese should be making it. But also there was a Leonardo DiCaprio version, there was a Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Everyone has been around it because the story’s amazing, which is why it felt very kind of right for us to do in the pilot. It feels like a movie that someone like Scorsese would and should make, and now Bill Hader’s going to do it and he’s perfect. I’m so excited to see that.”

In The Studio Episode 1, Remmick was tasked with making the Kool-Aid movie their Barbie. Remmick, the newly appointed head of the fictional Continental Studios, tried to make Scorsese’s Jonestown movie the Kool-Aid movie his boss wanted. This turned out to be much harder than he ever anticipated, resulting in Continental buying Scorsese’s “swan song” script just to kill it.

Goldberg told TV Insider that “it was the script” that drew Scorsese in for this guest-star role. “He just read the script and said he was in. We never met the man. It was a miracle.”

Below are some of the social media reactions joking about The Studio‘s Scorsese plot in response to the reported Hader series.

they killed kool-aid just for hbo to get it https://t.co/q07qcvaZsG pic.twitter.com/gDTG4uML6N

— iana murray (@ianamurray) April 23, 2025

https://t.co/oF5Z0F8Eg2 pic.twitter.com/Q9OIlR1gHS

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) April 23, 2025

i can’t believe they gave bill hader the scorsese kool-aid movie

— bald ann dowd (@ali_sivi) April 23, 2025

https://t.co/iEFdsT1OrM pic.twitter.com/ELfqEltOf8

— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) April 23, 2025

https://t.co/1Hgesc7Zni pic.twitter.com/qI8rK1WGMv

— Oluwajomiloju (@JomiAdeniran) April 23, 2025

The Studio is right at least twenty seven times every single day about the film industry https://t.co/dKTGuNPOlU

— Mara Webster 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@Mara_Webster) April 23, 2025