Around Town: The twists and turns of ‘The Interview’ controversy
Leave it to the Canadians to get us into trouble on Christmas.
Seth Rogen, a Vancouver native, is a co-director and star of “The Interview,” a film that was pulled from its Christmas Day launch.
The premise of “The Interview” is the attempted assassination of North Korean president Kim Jong-un.
Really? Hollywood’s post-Ferguson sensitivity apparently does not extend to North Korea’s head of state.
Are you really going to take your kids to see some white guys from Canada do toilet jokes about the leader of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program?
Rolling Stone, the trusted source that brought you the non-fact-checked, yet highly emotional UVA gang rape report, interviewed Rogen, who explained that he and his partner, another Canadian named Evan Goldberg, started with the premise of an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-il, the father of North Korea’s current leader, Kim Jong-un.
“Kim Jong-il was the natural choice — but when he died and his son Kim Jong-un took over, they put the script on hold, in case he turned out to be cool.” (Rolling Stone, Dec. 17, 2014 “Seth Rogen at the Crossroads.”)
Thank you, Rolling Stone, for alerting us that Hollywood’s post-Ferguson sensitivity has not yet extended to Asians.
You know you’re in trouble when Dennis Rodman starts to make sense.
“They blast me, when I’m the one who went and talked to [Kim Jong-un] four times. Now all of a sudden they’re going to make a joke about the guy. Nobody’s giving them flack at all. They make a joke about it, ‘You want us to go over and kill him?’ and they say yes. That’s supposed to be funny. (USA Today, Dec. 9, 2014 “Dennis Rodman criticizes protesters, rips Seth Rogen and James Franco’s new movie.”)
Obviously, none of this justifies the Sony hack.
But the Nov. 24 release of hacked Sony emails, financials and employee files was aided and abetted by the fourth estate.
Few of us saw the emails. We learned of their contents, not from Kim Jong-un, nor from Dennis Rodman, but from respected journalists who quoted and requoted the unkind remarks by Sony executives about President Obama and film celebrities.
The journalists who took the position that the stolen content was newsworthy and, since it had been released by the hackers, it was in the public domain. Plus, it was cool.
Not so, replied Sony’s lawyers, belatedly.
Meanwhile, Sony production stopped.
Finally, on Dec. 19, the FBI linked the hack to North Korea. Despite the attack on an American company, President Obama criticized Sony for caving in, for not releasing the movie as planned on Christmas Day. He referred to Sony as a “corporation.”
It’s times like these that I wish we still had “The Colbert Report” to decipher these events.
There was one voice of reason, a voice from La Cañada. Early on, Rob Henry, a Flintridge Prep alum, suggested that Sony distribute “The Interview” for free on the Internet.
What a great idea! Mitt Romney must have seen it. A few days after Henry, Romney echoed the suggestion.
Last week, Sony hired Judy Smith, the real-life spin doctor who is the model for Olivia Pope on “Scandal.”
So cool. Life imitates art. Art imitates life, with the 1st Amendment thrown in to spice it up.
That’s when Sony announced it was still seeking ways to distribute “The Interview.” But wait, there’s more! They announced Tuesday the film would open in select theaters, beginning Christmas Day, and the film would be streamed online.
What would Michelangelo say?
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ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com and follow her on Twitter @anitabrenner.