Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera will have a small role in “The Studio” Season 2 that is currently shooting on the Venice Lido with Madonna on set.
Also spotted in Venice, besides Seth Rogen — who co-created the showbiz satire that won 13 Emmy Awards — are stars Micheal Keaton, Bryan Cranston, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz and Julia Garner.
The main set of the Apple TV show’s Venice shoot is the Palazzo del Cinema, where the festival’s upcoming 83rd edition is being reenacted for the show six months in advance. The Venice fest’s main venue is currently open, with flags flying and the red carpet rolled out. Rogen, who in the show plays fictitious studio head Matt Remick, briefly attended the festival in September to do research. “The Studio” Venice shoot is expected to continue through April 3.
A Venice fest spokesperson told Variety on Wednesday that Barbera — who is expected on the Lido set Thursday — will have a cameo in the show and that the event’s parent organization, the Venice Biennale, has given required approvals to Lionsgate Television and local producer Indiana Production for the fest and its logo to feature in “The Studio” storyline.
In addition to the Lido, the next installment of “The Studio” has also been shooting in the Campo Santa Maria del Giglio area in central Venice where the Gritti Palace hotel is located, and in the 18th century Palazzo Marin.
Madonna has also been spotted on location in Venice with “The Studio” crew, seemingly teasing a role in Season 2. On Tuesday, she posted a video on Instagram in which she and Julia Garner lip-sync to “Like a Virgin” sitting in a gondola while holding onto large hats. Garner has been attached to star in a long-delayed Madonna biopic that the singer has teased since 2022 and which may now be part of “The Studio” story line.
Apple TV did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.