The movie “The Interview” has created quite the stir throughout the national and international media. “The Interview” is about two journalists who are sent to assassinate Kim Jong Un during their interview with him, hence the title “The Interview.” The movie stars James Franco and Seth Rogen.
The controversy began as soon as the movie was announced. When North Korea heard about “The Interview” they declared the movie to be an “act of war”. They also put threats toward the Obama administration, and even implied that the Obama administration was behind the making of the film all along. Clearly Kim Jong Un does not know how Hollywood works, unlike his father who was a big fan of Hollywood movies. Kim Jong Il had a collection of over 30,000 movies many of which were made by Hollywood. “Friday the 13th” and “Rambo” were among his favorite movies.
The whole act of war threat started a debate on whether or not Sony should release “The Interview.” The debate became even more serious when on Nov. 24, 2014 Sony discovered that they were being hacked. The hackers sent a message that if Sony does not meet their demands they would release Sony’s top secret. Sony employees had to work without voice mail for a pretty decent amount of time. The hackers are alleged to be government officials of North Korea. North Korea has not confirmed hacking Sony. However, North Korea did call the hacking a “righteous deed.”
On Dec. 16, the hackers threatened any theater that showed “The Interview.” The next day, Sony decided to not release the movie in theaters on Christmas day. Sony also stopped all TV advertising for “The Interview.”
On Dec. 23 Sony changed their minds and stated that they would release the movie to whatever theater wants to show it. They also released the film online to rent or to own. The decision to release the film has been a big story. Seth Rogen and James Franco were very pleased with the results. Seth Rogen tweeted “Freedom Prevails” and James Franco tweeted “VICTORY!!!!!” in response to the news about their movie being released. In its opening weekend, “The Interview” made just over a million dollars and has made five million dollars all together since its opening.
The movie itself was funny, but not as funny as the hype would indicate. Obviously, this movie is not recommended to the easily offended. As expected, many jokes are directed toward Kim Jong Un. Many other celebrities also made appearances. Possibly no celebrity made a bigger guest appearance than rapper Eminem, who was surprisingly funny in his role. Seth Rogen and James Franco both had funny moments throughout the movie. Much of James Franco’s role was to be unbelievably stupid throughout the movie. Seth Rogen’s role was still funny, however he was seen as the voice of reason throughout the movie. Overall good movie, but not one of Rogen’s best.
Sources: deadline.com, hollywoodreporter.com, imdb.com