Former Sony boss regrets controversial James Franco comedy Obama had huge problem with
A former CEO of Sony has opened up about the significant mistake he made when green-lighting a James Franco comedy.
While they might say that comedy is tragedy plus time, the plot of this particular movie didn't prove to be the smartest idea, as its cinema release was cancelled and saw the company receive a number of threats.
Even Barack Obama wasn't too happy with Michael Lynton, the former CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, due to the security risks involved with the main plot point.
For those of you who aren't a fan of niche James Franco films from the mid 2010s, I am of course, talking about The Interview.
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The film sees Franco and Seth Rogen handed the chance to interview North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, played by Randall Park.
The CIA then take over and decide to use it as an opportunity to assassinate the Supreme Leader, which certainly didn't go down to well, with Rogen later reflecting on his role in one of the most controversial films of all time.
Obama asked Lynton, “What were you thinking when you made killing the leader of a hostile foreign nation a plot point? Of course that was a mistake.”
Writing in a new memoir, Lynton has now reflected on the mistake and shared more about what happened after Sony was hacked in November 2014, in a huge data breach which saw the company and cinemas threatened by a group who described the film as 'terrorism.
Lynton writes: “Not long after the hack, a mysterious website appeared, inviting journalists to type ‘Die Sony’ into any internet browser, where they could find tens of thousands of leaked emails. Emails in which studio executives criticised movie stars. Emails that had sensitive employment contracts.
"Then the hackers started releasing employee health records and Social Security numbers. They published pirated versions of upcoming movies such as ‘The Karate Kid.’ They even released the confidential script of the new James Bond movie. That’s the ultimate Hollywood sacrilege.
"As part of the leaked documents, my daughters’ health records flashed across the internet."
He also reflects on his decision to green-light the film despite warnings, and how he ended up paying dearly for the mistake.
“Just for a moment, I wanted to join the badass gang that made subversive movies. For a moment, I wanted to hang — as an equal — with the actors. I had grown tired of playing the responsible adult, of watching the party from the outside while I played Risk….The party got out of hand, and the company, its employees, my family and I all paid dearly,” Lynton says.
The former Sony boss also writes that “two other factors complicated the situation.
"First, Amy Pascal, my co-chairperson at Sony, and Stacey Snider, the chairwoman at Universal Studios, while friends, had a 20-year rivalry. Second, Rogen felt that he had to make each movie more and more outrageous to keep his audience engaged. So when either Stacey or Amy refused to greenlight a film because it was too offensive, the other agreed to make it. And guess what? It was inevitably a hit.”
“Sony found itself in the difficult position of not being able to say no, and Rogen found himself in the enviable position of getting approval for almost anything that he chose to present,” adds Lynton, who greenlit the film immediately after a favourable table read of the script.
Despite all this, it's fairly easy to watch the action comedy film to this day, with most streaming services offering it for a small fee.
Topics: Sony, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Kim Jong-un
James Moorhouse