Right now, the biggest movie story in Hollywood isn’t about an Oscar contender, or even a movie that will be opening this holiday season. Instead, it’s about Seth Rogen and James Franco‘s "The Interview," which might be the most notorious unreleased film in recent memory. Certainly, everything around the movie has been unprecedented, with exhibitors across the country cancelling their plans to put the movie in their cinemas, following threats by hackers with ties to North Korea invoking 9/11. This in turn forced Sony to drop any and all release plans for "The Interview." And while there seemed to be a glimmer of hope when a new promo for the film appeared on Sony’s YouTube channel yesterday, it has since been yanked. So too have all clips from the film. And an unlikely, angry voice has emerged calling out Hollywood’s lack of courage.
George Clooney took some time to talk to Deadline, and the actor/director/writer/producer reveals that he teamed with his agent Bryan Lourd and spearheaded an effort to get all of Hollywood on board to support Sony publicly, but couldn’t get anybody to sign a petition he drafted. What did it say? Here you go:
On November 24 of this year, Sony Pictures was notified that it was the victim of a cyber attack, the effects of which is the most chilling and devastating of any cyber attack in the history of our country. Personal information including Social Security numbers, email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers and the full texts of emails of tens of thousands of Sony employees was leaked online in an effort to scare and terrorize these workers. The hackers have made both demands and threats. The demand that Sony halt the release of its upcoming comedy The Interview, a satirical film about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Their threats vary from personal—you better behave wisely—to threatening physical harm—not only you but your family is in danger. North Korea has not claimed credit for the attack but has praised the act, calling it a righteous deed and promising merciless measures if the film is released. Meanwhile the hackers insist in their statement that what they’ve done so far is only a small part of our further plan. This is not just an attack on Sony. It involves every studio, every network, every business and every individual in this country. That is why we fully support Sony’s decision not to submit to these hackers’ demands. We know that to give in to these criminals now will open the door for any group that would threaten freedom of expression, privacy and personal liberty. We hope these hackers are brought to justice but until they are, we will not stand in fear. We will stand together.
"All that it is basically saying is, we’re not going to give in to a ransom. As we watched one group be completely vilified, nobody stood up. Nobody took that stand," Clooney explained, adding: "…Having put together telethons where you have to get all the networks on board to do the telethon at the same time, the truth is once you get one or two, then everybody gets on board. It is a natural progression. So here, you get the first couple of people to sign it and … well, nobody wanted to be the first to sign on. Now, this isn’t finger-pointing on that. This is just where we are right now, how scared this industry has been made."
And for Clooney, as an artist and creator, he sees Hollywood’s inability to band together as a troubling sign of where the future of filmmaking could be headed if they back down to these threats. "What’s going to happen is, you’re going to have trouble finding distribution. In general, when you’re doing [controversial films], the ones that are critical, those aren’t going to be studio films anyway," he said. "Most of the movies that got us in trouble, we started out by raising the money independently. But to distribute, you’ve got to go to a studio, because they’re the ones that distribute movies. The truth is, you’re going to have a much harder time finding distribution now. And that’s a chilling effect."
So, what’s the solution? Release the movie, and according to Clooney, the Sony Pictures Co-Chairman Amy Pascal also wants to get it out there. "I just talked to Amy an hour ago. She wants to put that movie out. What do I do? My partner Grant Heslov and I had the conversation with her this morning. Bryan and I had the conversation with her last night. Stick it online. Do whatever you can to get this movie out," he said. "Not because everybody has to see the movie, but because I’m not going to be told we can’t see the movie. That’s the most important part. We cannot be told we can’t see something by Kim Jong-un, of all f*cking people."
But why does Clooney care at all about what he ultimately calls a "silly movie"? Because if this isn’t handled right, it could further stifle voices looking to make provocative, creative work, because studios and distributors will be wary of having their investments threatened. "I wanted to have the conversation because I’m worried about content. Frankly, I’m at an age where I’m not doing action films or romantic comedies," he said. "The movies we make are the ones with challenging content, and I don’t want to see it all just be superhero movies. Nothing wrong with them, but it’s nice for people to have other films out there."
And while Clooney is definitely the biggest voice coming out in support of releasing the movie, others have weighed in too, with "Game Of Thrones" writer George R.R. Martin offering to screen the movie at his Jean Cocteau Cinema. Here’s some of what he had to say on LiveJournal:
Martin and Rogen in the same room together, watching "The Interview"? Yeah, we’d pay to see that too.
But there’s lot to discuss as this issue and event continues to unfold. Shares your thoughts in the comments section below.
"National security breach"… by North Korean hackers. You cannot make this stuff up. Yet people fall for the most obvious of lies. No wonder people act, vote and form beliefs that are against their best interests. Oh well.
after the information I gathered Dixon and dents.
kapasa! the ground,ok,notes : : **ise\’s-don\’t tell anyone your scam.Te Crack dealer very interesting "the song wicked games" I would like to find that **ise\’s a little tickle from another world ahh. and this world on the word for words.
Didn\’t Team America (F*** Yeah) already enter this territory?
It could just as we\’ll be a good \’ol fashioned piece of propaganda. Who told us it was North Korea? The FBI claims that it was, but North Korea has only praised the action, not claimed it.
This could just be an inside job, FBI..CIA..??? in an effort to generate fear, and eventually rally the U.S. into a new era of warfare against North Korea and other like them.
Obama\’s on stand by to sell the us the cyber spying safety blanket of the NSA.
Who knows?
I don\’t care if they drop the DVDs out of airplanes, Sony MUST release this film now! We\’re talking about our freedom on expression here, folks.
They were fools to even greenlight this movie in the first place. Not just because of its incendiary nature but also because the trailer reveals it to be totally without humor. And I say that as a fan of Seth Rogen.
I\’m with Donald over here. The FBI said they\’re responsible and the POTUS said they will deal with this. The government don\’t sell comedies.
Also, I\’m sick of all people telling that The Interview is a subpar silly movie. We didn\’t see it yet and it totally doesn\’t matter. That\’s not the point!
@Jean-Michel: "That turd \’The Interview\’" – have you seen it already? How are you able to make such judgements unless you have?And you say you can\’t see any other reason to release the film. How about the most important reason – to show that we aren\’t afraid, and that We won\’t run and hide every time someone tries to scare us? While this movie may not be your particular cup of tea, you most certainly may choose to not go see it. But to be told we can\’t go see it because some pissed-off little tyrant on the other side of the globe got his panties in a bunch and sicced his state owned hackers on us – well, now I want to see it. I want to choose to see it. I don\’t want a bunch of scared people making that decision for me, telling me I can\’t.
@Atomic Fury: So what you\’re saying is that George Clooney obviously didn\’t get the message the terrorists / hackers were sending, and he should go run and hide? What does is matter what his personal emails said? If you read the above article, you would see that the whole point is to stand up to these cyber-terrorists (because that\’s what they are) and say that we are not afraid, and we will not run and hide every time someone tries to threaten us. Sounds like you agree with all those people, Atomic Fury, who think that the studio was right to pull the film. Is that what you\’re trying to say?
George Clooney is a truly excellent actor/writer/director, but he have had his share of sub-standard pictures himself… Even after reading this article personally I see absolutely no reasons other than financial to release that turd "The Interview", period… And if someone decide to release it they should assume the consequences…
I do not have any great love for Sony, but I do have a great love for this country and I can tell you that the body of government we deal with today is the "Let\’s give up!" type and the rest of the world feeds off of that. We need someone that will not take the shit that these other countries keep dishing out to us. I am really getting sick of it. I say play the movie and anything that happens because of it, no matter who it is, we take it out double on North Korea.
Hacking is a serious business and this in an example of that.
BUT not to sound too terribly cynical, but did Pascal promise something to Clooney for this? Afterall, they have an extremely close relationship and this is not the first time he has defended them when they got into a mess. The company should do more to protect their everyday employees and not worry so much about its image. They protect and stroke the million dollar talent who kiss their asses, but if you dare show independence, or do what you want, you get trashed.
Yes a dictator in North Korea is responsible for this and it is a shame. But maybe the leadership at Sony should not act like dictators themselves and care about he people that work for a living and do more to protect them and not get the expensive talent to exonerate your sloppiness and poor management skills.
I guess "Loonie" Clooney missed the release of his groveling e-mail to Sony in which he begs for their forgiveness…
shame on sony and the film industry by letting this happen
Richard, considering everything this studio has gone through in the last few weeks — and the severity of these national security breaches that the president of the united states is soon going to speak out about — I\’m going to label you either a nutty conspiracy theorist or just a flat out idiot.
Am I the only one that cynically believes this is all just a massive publicity stunt on Sony\’s behalf, to raise the profile of what is, by most accounts, a sub-standard comedy?? And what a surprise it will be when, in a month and a half\’s time, the movie will come out to maximum box-office effect. Did no-one see Four Lions???