Sony Cancels The Interview after Threats of Violence

[Mindbender Futurama]

Sony is an international company. But yeah, blame it on white people in America.

Yeah, the two white guys on the poster that are writer and director of the movie should not be the people we blame for this. Lets pretend it's some faceless, tangential, unknown Asian executives at Sony.



Hollywood is the pinnacle of white privilege made visible, literally

Try to take that privilege away??? !!!

DONT YOU DARE TRY TO STOP OUR RIGHT TO DISRESPECT WHAT WE DONT UNDERSTAND

[Mindbender Futurama]

i don't see how it could be a marketing strategy. they're gonna lose shitloads of money either way

Well, yeah, the notion that this was for publicity's/marketing's sake is farfetched to say the least.

Yeah, this wasnt intentional. Sure we can see Sony emails exist that proved they willfully ignored the suggestion that there could be repercussions for simply making this movie, but they didn't orchestrate all this publicity. They had this movie in the making for months, and anyone who knew about comedies had this on their 2014 radar. After "This is the End", I was gonna be first in line for anything Rogen did.

Sounds like I may regret that thought after watching The Interview

[sleazy_j]

i gave up after watching five minutes of it. lame attempts at humor. i don't understand how this shit gets a greenlight past a script reading.

[chapter thrive]

i thought it was pretty entertaining.

franco as a media shill was pretty funny, had a lot of pretty good lines that will probably get a lot of recollection hahaha. the whole scene in the control room had me laughing my ass off

i dont know, i see the point of not crossing the line, but at the same time, north korea has been and is ridiculous. the whole situation is fucked and yiou really cant have madmen speaking from golden thrones about absolution in this day and age. the idea of putting him back on mortal ground in the movie is probably what needs to happen to see any sort of democracy and progress there.

the only reason anyone really puts up with putin anymore is oil and gas, and thats coming to an end.

[907]

I thought it was decent, about on par with every other Rogen/Goldberg flick more or less. Lizzy Caplan looked good as hell, but that's nothing new.

[Hayzoos]

DONT YOU DARE TRY TO STOP OUR RIGHT TO DISRESPECT WHAT WE DONT UNDERSTAND

Wait, so the problem is that white America/Hollywood just doesn't understand Kim Jong Un and North Korea?

[Philaflava]

Franco is jovial, handsome and likeable. Rogan is the exact opposite.

[SYM]

Franco is jovial, handsome and likeable. Rogan is the exact opposite.

How controversial of you!

[starks]

this shit was unwatchable

[Employee]

Garbage; Sony deserved to the hosing x2 after what they paid Rogen to direct.

[Mindbender Futurama]

DONT YOU DARE TRY TO STOP OUR RIGHT TO DISRESPECT WHAT WE DONT UNDERSTAND

Wait, so the problem is that white America/Hollywood just doesn't understand Kim Jong Un and North Korea?

Yeah, but not as literally as you put it.

I mean, why would they be mad, right??? North Korea declared it an act of war, but... fuck them, they don't get its just a movie! Hollywood is pretending like they don't know why other countries might be offended by internationally-promoted imaginary videos showing their leaders getting murdered. indeed

[Mindbender Futurama]

white privilege wins again

glad you can see it too
we laugh to stop us from crying

as it's been noted, the unspoken rule is: an acting head of state is never supposed to be the target in a Hollywood movie

Rogen/Franco have line-stepped. habitually

now they are offending a rogue nation with a pseudo-mentally disabled Asian dictator, and feel there should be no repercussions

only white people in America

your point is well taken: showing the assassination of an acting head of state is risky. i'm a pretty solid free speech guy so I feel like nothing's off limits, but i def see where you're coming from.

a couple films that have drawn comparison are team america and the great dictator. these both clown active dictators, and the latter is especially well regarded for it. i remember seeing team america in the theatre and loving it. making fun of this brutal dictator is a way to take him down a notch. you might be all-powerful in the little backwards nightmare land you've inherited, but as long as we can laugh at you we have some power over you. i love that clip of sexy kim jung un getting wasted in his helicoptor (have watched ~20 times).

ultimately, even we you disagree about the merit of using comedy to attack the powerful, free speech trumps all. and i don't mean free speech as is the first amendment (which only protects you from the govt, and doesn't apply in canada anyway). imo the principle of free speech is bigger than just freedom from government censorship, and we should endeavor to have a society where speech is free from terrorist reprisals.

oh yes, i agree with you about free speech though. i've never said the movie should not be seen. i'm going to watch it tomorrow probably
i just am not gonna act like art can't cause problems like this, and artists can't be irresponsible enough to do this kind of cultural damage
and white people in particular spend millions of dollars to create pieces of art that have dubious messages and sometimes very irresponsible content... and sometimes. SHIT HAPPENS

i guess it sucks most that the movie actually seems to suck instead of it being a masterpiece of international historical political subervsion

[Kid That's Lifeless]

^ Claims not be a racist. Makes literally everything about race.

[Mindbender Futurama]

^ Claims not be a racist. Makes literally everything about race.

Everyone is a racist. Everyone. But I've never hurt a person because of their race in my life. So I'm okay with myself, and all my various cultures of friends. And just because I'm using terms you don't like doesn't mean what I'm saying is not true. I ain't mad at white Hollywood male privilege. But it's fun to call it out when it's flexing.

You think North Korea doesn't see this as some Western Capitalist white male disrespect? Good luck with that.

I think the movie should come out, bruh. I ain't mad. But let's frame the politics properly, cause it's bigger than Hollywood. I'm just

I'ma watch a bootleg of this motherfucker RIGHT NOW actually, so

2: I'm 21 minutes into this movie, and I have not laughed once.

[Tweak Da Leak]

Franco's line asking Rogan if he fucked the Korean badass chick right after meeting her was the highlight of the entire flick.

[Tweak Da Leak]

MB you didn't enjoy the Eminem is GAY bit?

[Mindbender Futurama]

MB you didn't enjoy the Eminem is GAY bit?

Of course I enjoyed that. FINALLY I'M VINDICATED
It was the ONLY part I found interesting and worth remembering.
I'll be having fun with that for quite some time. Big up Marshall! You're free, you don't have to say "I'll fuck a mannequin" anymore, you can just say "I'll fuck a man named Quinn" if you want!

Now:

In my life, I will make time for any movie. I am a genius that opens my mind to the most low-brow art possible. I can learn from everything made.

But I have outright stopped FOUR movies in my life in the middle of them playing because they were so stupid/boring/unbearable/idiotic:

-Gummo
-Skyline
-Transformers 4
and now:
-The Interview

The side of my cheek didn't even twitch not even once while watching this movie... except for the very first scene with the little girl singing the Korean National Anthem. It was funny until she mentioned "rape", then I stopped liking it.

James Franco was unbearable. I stopped it at the "they anus" scene. I could be masturbating to a desktop icon instead of watching this spectacularly disappointing movie. The interviewer Skylark is half a possibly real person, and half an imagined person that would NOT be allowed to really exist. EVER. By anyone. And Rogen was the lamest straightest straight man ever. Dude, you didn't even do anything mirthful or clever. And you ACTUALLY said "me so solly?" as you talked to an Asian man, and put it in your movie? Are you guys for FUCKING real? And you want me to not think white male ignorance and white male privilege isn't a thing? x

I'll try to drag my brain through to the end of the movie sometime later this week. But seriously, I'd rather interview Eminem's asshole than watch this movie right about now

[chapter thrive]

is the idea that kim jong un keeps his country under an iron fist and large proportions of his country are under nutritioned, that he lives a life of splendor while his country men only serve as the gears in his dictatorship at their own physical and economical expense a widely agreed fact?

i think the whole conversation that rogan has with ders is a reference to probably what sparked this thing, and no i dont think rogan and evans have a mean bone in their body to make the movie specifically about assassinating kim jong un particularily for the point of finding the hilarity in it. in fact by the end of it, the whole initial plot flies out the window in favor of something more (and potentially less) humane.


to be honest this whole conversation of there being alterior motives to producing this movie, because america needs to cut nk out is ridiculous. maybe some film makers and actors felt they could get the ball rolling to getting the people of north korea some footing to come into control of their country.

the whole "of course NK would find this an act of war" pre supposes that ALL of north korea agrees with Kim Jong Un and his cabinet about it being an act of war. while that would perhaps be the case in a real democracy where the people had the ability to elect and support their leader, the fact that NK is unarguably a dictatorship where KJU does what he pleases with the people beneath him, completely obliterates the notion that even a fraction of the people in NK who actually matter as human lives. (and im not talking abiout the potential population subgroup that supports KJU because of the benefits associated with it)

So maybe for instance instead of implying that the movie was made with intended spite, one needs to look at the possible long term aim of the art being made.

I could go on and on how i feel that calming NK and chaotic parts of the world is best for everyone on the planet, despite the "evil empire nature" of america being the one to cull and control, but i wont. most of us read watchmen and understand moore's point with veidt.

[Mindbender Futurama]

movie made $1 million

woulda probably made $3-5 million... IF IT WAS ANY FUCKING GOOD

[ackbar]

it was pretty funny. it would've probably made it's budget back in a few weeks if the controversy didn't happen

[seagrams hotsauce]

is the idea that kim jong un keeps his country under an iron fist and large proportions of his country are under nutritioned, that he lives a life of splendor while his country men only serve as the gears in his dictatorship at their own physical and economical expense a widely agreed fact?

i think the whole conversation that rogan has with ders is a reference to probably what sparked this thing, and no i dont think rogan and evans have a mean bone in their body to make the movie specifically about assassinating kim jong un particularily for the point of finding the hilarity in it. in fact by the end of it, the whole initial plot flies out the window in favor of something more (and potentially less) humane.


to be honest this whole conversation of there being alterior motives to producing this movie, because america needs to cut nk out is ridiculous. maybe some film makers and actors felt they could get the ball rolling to getting the people of north korea some footing to come into control of their country.

the whole "of course NK would find this an act of war" pre supposes that ALL of north korea agrees with Kim Jong Un and his cabinet about it being an act of war. while that would perhaps be the case in a real democracy where the people had the ability to elect and support their leader, the fact that NK is unarguably a dictatorship where KJU does what he pleases with the people beneath him, completely obliterates the notion that even a fraction of the people in NK who actually matter as human lives. (and im not talking abiout the potential population subgroup that supports KJU because of the benefits associated with it)

So maybe for instance instead of implying that the movie was made with intended spite, one needs to look at the possible long term aim of the art being made.

I could go on and on how i feel that calming NK and chaotic parts of the world is best for everyone on the planet, despite the "evil empire nature" of america being the one to cull and control, but i wont. most of us read watchmen and understand moore's point with veidt.

Lord almighty, you've invested way too much thought into a pretty shitty movie.

[alpha]

It wasn't bad, and far from terrible.

[Employee]

to be honest this whole conversation of there being alterior motives to producing this movie, because america needs to cut nk out is ridiculous. maybe some film makers and actors felt they could get the ball rolling to getting the people of north korea some footing to come into control of their country.

I don't understand what your point is; not trying to be rude or anything, but it reads very convoluted to me. As to the film itself, it is state-approved art (some people would call that kind of thing "Fascism"):

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... rview.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Exclusive: Sony Emails Say State Department Blessed Kim Jong-Un Assassination in ‘The Interview’

CEO Michael Lynton showed a rough cut of the movie to U.S. officials before moving ahead. Now hackers are threatening to bomb any theater that shows it.

The Daily Beast has unearthed several emails that reveal at least two U.S. government officials screened a rough cut of the Kim Jong-Un assassination comedy The Interview in late June and gave the film—including a final scene that sees the dictator’s head explode—their blessing.

The claim that the State Department played an active role in the decision to include the film’s gruesome death scene is likely to cause fury in Pyongyang. Emails between the Sony Entertainment CEO and a security consultant even appear to suggest the U.S. government may support the notion that The Interview would be useful propaganda against the North Korean regime.

So maybe for instance instead of implying that the movie was made with intended spite, one needs to look at the possible long term aim of the art being made. ...

A series of leaked emails reveal that Sony enlisted the services of Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation who specializes in North Korea, to consult with them on The Interview. After he saw the film, including the gruesome ending where a giant missile hits Kim Jong-Un’s helicopter in slow-mo as Katy Perry’s “Firework” plays, and Kim’s head catches on fire and explodes, Bennett gave his assessment of it in a June 25 email to Lynton, just five days after North Korea's initial threat.

“The North has never executed an artillery attack against the balloon launching areas. So it is very hard to tell what is pure bluster from North Korea, since they use the term ‘act of war’ so commonly,” wrote Bennett. “I also thought a bunch more about the ending. I have to admit that the only resolution I can see to the North Korean nuclear and other threats is for the North Korean regime to eventually go away.”

He added, “In fact, when I have briefed my book on ‘preparing for the possibility of a North Korean collapse’ [Sept 2013], I have been clear that the assassination of Kim Jong-Un is the most likely path to a collapse of the North Korean government. Thus while toning down the ending may reduce the North Korean response, I believe that a story that talks about the removal of the Kim family regime and the creation of a new government by the North Korean people (well, at least the elites) will start some real thinking in South Korea and, I believe, in the North once the DVD leaks into the North (which it almost certainly will). So from a personal perspective, I would personally prefer to leave the ending alone.”

That same day, Lynton responded saying that a U.S. government official completely backed Bennett’s assessment of the film.

“Bruce – Spoke to someone very senior in State (confidentially),” wrote Lynton. “He agreed with everything you have been saying. Everything. I will fill you in when we speak.”

The following day, June 26, an email from Bennett to Lynton—as well as several other forwarded emails—revealed that Robert King, U.S. special envoy for North Korean human-rights issues, was helping to consult on the film as well through Bennett and addressed the June 20 threat by North Korea.
“Michael, 
I talked with Amb. King a few minutes ago,” wrote Bennett. “Their office has apparently decided that this is typical North Korean bullying, likely without follow-up, but you never know with North Korea. Thus, he did not appear worried and clearly wanted to leave any decisions up to Sony.”

(A spokesman for the U.S. State Department later admitted that Daniel Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, had a conversation with Sony executives but vaguely denied having any direct influence on the creative direction of The Interview.)

Still, Sony executives felt nervous about not only the film, but also the scene depicting the murder of Kim Jong-Un. An email dated June 20 from Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, sent to Vice-Chairman of Sony Pictures Jeff Black said, “we need sonys name off this asap everywhere,” asking to remove the name “Sony” from all of the film’s promotional materials and package it as a Columbia Pictures release (a subsidiary of SPE). Then, a July 9 email from Lynton to Pascal expressed the company’s desire to not show the DPRK leader die.

“Yeah we cannot be cute here,” wrote Lynton. “What we really want is no melting face and actually not seeing him die. A look of horror as the fire approaches is probably what we need.”

I could go on and on how i feel that calming NK and chaotic parts of the world is best for everyone on the planet, despite the "evil empire nature" of america being the one to cull and control, but i wont. most of us read watchmen and understand moore's point with veidt.

What?

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

^you're right, seth rogen is the fascist -- not the guy with concentration camps, state controlled media, and a personality cult. The canadian jew is the fascist. And maybe obama.

Anyway this movie is abysmal and everyone involved should be embarrassed. Franco's character is a complete misfire.

[Mindbender Futurama]

Anyway this movie is abysmal and everyone involved should be embarrassed. Franco's character is a complete misfire.

This.

'The Interview' is the movie where Seth Rogen and James Franco SIMULTANEOUSLY JUMPED THE SHARK
Congradufuckinlations, fellas! You fucked up one of the most accidentally insanely hyped movies of all time by making a laughless piece of shit!

Gotta work reeeeeeal hard and smart now to not become the next Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler (YEEEESH)

fuck... I can't believe how bad this movie is. It's like it wasn't even made by the same guys that brought you The Exorcism of Jonah Hill

[ackbar]

i'm sure seth rogen would absolutely love to become the next will ferrell

[Mindbender Futurama]

i'm sure seth rogen would absolutely love to become the next will ferrell

but Will Ferrell fell off

[ackbar]

not really.
anchorman 2 was good, the campaign was good, the other guys was good. the lego movie is one of the best movies of 2014. east bound & down is one of the best HBO shows of all time. funny or die kills it. get hard looks like it will be funny

[Blockhead]

Not to side track but anchorman two was fucking awful. Like REALLY REALLY bad. Kinda shocked yung Ack would stand by that at all.
That said, I don't think Ferrel totally fell off. That movie was just a cash cow they had to make.

[Philaflava]

it was bad as fuck but ack has been known to have different taste than the rest of us sheep.
c/s about will being apart of some marvelous shit tho. ashley shaffaer is a movie waiting to happen.