Jerry Seinfeld says the movie business is over, but the studios don’t know it

Jerry Seinfeld, who makes his directorial debut with the Netflix film “Unfrosted,” said in a new interview that studio executives “have no idea that the film industry is over.”

As he told GQ in an interview on Monday, after years on TV: “(Making a movie) was completely new to me. I thought I had done some cool stuff, but it was nothing like the way these people work. They are so deadly serious! They have no idea that the film industry is over. They have no idea.”

When asked what has replaced movies, the comedian replied, “Depression? Malaise? I would say confusion. Disorientation replaced the film industry. Everyone I know in show business asks every day, ‘What’s going on? How are you doing this? What should we do now?'”

Seinfeld noted that he did not share this insight with Netflix executives: “I didn’t tell them that. But film does not occupy the pinnacle of the social, cultural hierarchy as it has for most of our lives. Whenever a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We’ve discussed it all. We quoted lines and scenes we liked. Now we walk through a fire hose of water, just to see.”

So why did he finally decide to make a movie about the origins of the Pop-Tart? “Because they didn’t want to put me in ‘Mad Men,’” Seinfeld said of the prestige-era series.

“I love office comedies. I like stupid people in suits. And it was COVID. I had nothing to do. So I was talked into it. It wasn’t my idea,” he admitted (the story comes from “Seinfeld” writer Spike Feresten).

Meanwhile, Seinfeld said that while movies may be over, stand-up is still as solid and reliable as ever. “Stand-up is like being a furniture maker, and everyone needs someone who is good with wood,” he said.

The actor explained, “The metaphor is that if you have good craftsmanship and craftsmanship, you are quite impervious to the whims of the industry. Audiences are flocking to stand-up now because it’s something you can’t fake… That’s what people like about stand-up. They can rely on it. Everything else is fake.”

‘Unfrosted’ premieres on May 3 on Netflix.