This spring, Catherine O’Hara fans will be happy to know they’re getting a double dose of the award-winning actress — in Apple TV+’s new comedy “The Studio” (which premieres this week) and Season 2 of HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama “The Last of Us,” which returns on April 13.
In improvisational showcases like “SCTV,” four Christopher Guest mockumentaries, the film megahits “Beetlejuice” and “Home Alone” and the Emmy-winning series “Schitt’s Creek,” O’Hara excels at playing “terribly flawed” characters who “have no idea” they’re anything less than perfect, she tells Variety. And her take on her “The Studio” character — Patty Leigh, the former head of Continental Studios, who gets booted after 40 years of service because she shepherded 10 straight box office bombs — is no exception.
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Seth Rogen co-created and stars in “The Studio,” and he told Variety in an interview that the show is partly based on his time making movies with Sony Pictures. Within 10 seconds of O’Hara’s first scene, you’re laughing at how she reacts to her change in luck — by bursting into uncontrollable tears. “I’ve been fired, and I’m still wailing on it,” she says about that moment. “I had my life ripped out from under me by someone I considered my child, the bastard.” And she calls him on it, literally squealing at Rogen’s Matt Remick, “You stole my job!”
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Patty is a strong woman, and a dedicated pro, so she also knows how to skillfully play the political game that kept her in that position for all those decades. And getting a pink slip is merely a speed bump in her journey. As the season progresses, Patty turns her misfortune into a new life that she once only dreamed of by getting a production deal with the studio that axed her. “He offers me ‘producer,’ which I’ve always wanted to do. He’s such a student and lover of film, and it turns out the job is to kill them,” O’Hara says with a laugh.
It’s widely assumed that Patty is based on former Sony chief, Amy Pascal, who was fired after the studio’s email was hacked. But though O’Hara has a wealth of experience dealing with the studio machine — 50 years, to be exact — she says she didn’t base her character on anyone she’s encountered along the way. “I did not study anyone because I didn’t want to — I was afraid to,” she says.
Asked about her widely accepted status as a comedy icon, O’Hara demurs. “I don’t think of myself like that, but it’s nice that others do,” she says. Instead, she attributes her success at making people laugh to working with wonderful collaborators, being raised by funny parents and always looking for the humor in things.
“There’s no better survival instinct,” she says. “You’re so lucky if you’re raised with it. It’s one of God’s greatest gifts, because life is full of the dark and the light. You gotta look for the light. My parents were both really funny, and a sense of humor was always appreciated. Laughing and being funny was highly encouraged at our table.”
The Toronto native — “I am a proud Canadian” — began her career at age 20 as a cast member of The Second City improvisational troupe, which, two years later, created the sketch comedy show “SCTV,” where she worked alongside such greats as John Candy, Martin Short and her future frequent costar Eugene Levy. Since those days, approaching comedy has made a shift.
“I think funny is funny, but we are [now] in a world where you might do something that might make someone laugh, but then they stop and think, ‘Oh, [you] must be an ally for whoever you just made fun of,” she says. When she started out in Second City Theater, there was no internet and, she feels for people now having to do anything with the world’s commenters out there, listening in.
“Second City Theater, it was just your cast and that audience, and you have that experience that night. And maybe they’ll go tell their friends and family, maybe they won’t. But there weren’t phones in the air watching. There was time to think about what you saw, what you experienced,” she says. “We were allowed to try things and fail. It was wonderful to experiment. And you didn’t feel like, ‘Oh my God, what I do today is going to be judged, and it’s gonna be on record forever.’ You were much freer in those days to try things. Now I think it’s very limiting.”
As she sees it, there are pluses and minuses with being involved in the comedy world these days: “On the good side, somebody in their home can be discovered for their talent. So that’s wonderful. But the bad side is you get judged immediately by a bunch of strangers. Who knows how happy they are with their lives… or unhappy?”
The roles O’Hara’s played have been memorable, to put it mildly. “I’ve played a few kind of delusional characters, and it’s really fun. I think maybe I am drawn to that because — it’s a fact — we’re all delusional. We’re gonna die someday, and every day we pretend we’re not,” O’Hara says, laughing again. “And thinking you can control what others think of you is a joke. You’ll never be able to control that, and that’s just the way it is. I guess I like tapping into that — how we try to control ourselves.”
One of her most unforgettable characters is Moira Rose, the eccentric former soap opera star, with a wardrobe, wig collection and accent like no other, on “Schitt’s Creek.” The support, trust and encouragement she received from the show creators — and former co-stars — Eugene and Dan Levy allowed her creativity to fly. “They were like, ‘What do you wanna do?’ [And I’d say], ‘I would like to have an insanely arcane vocabulary and use different words every day. And I’d like to wear a different wing depending on my mood. How would that work?’”
Moira’s “crazy black and white” look was inspired by British fashion designer and socialite Daphne Guinness. “I didn’t want to look like a typical rich lady; I wanted to look avant-garde,” O’Hara says. Slipping into character, she adds, “I am an artist. I want everyone to know how important I am and my work is.”
Six seasons with that wardrobe, yes, of course, she took home a few things at the end of the show’s run. How could she not?
“The Levys and everybody were very generous, and I didn’t take as much as they offered. They offered me lots of wigs, but I don’t have the tools to keep them in good shape. But I think I took a pink one and my wig from my soap opera character.” Among the clothes she kept were a Celine coat, a Philosophy leather dress, giant platform boots and the long black Pilgram-looking dress she wore on its final season, for which she won a lead actress in a comedy Emmy.
Whether it was the Levys or the hundreds of others she’s worked with over her five-decade career, O’Hara is grateful for all of them.
“Working off of each other and supporting each other, building each other up, and being honest with each other — I’ve been lucky and careful about with whom I work,” O’Hara says. “And you can’t always choose these things; it depends on what opportunities are there. But I have been really fortunate in working with lovely, talented people, who make the day-to-day job good, hard work, but fun.”
