Sony executives always knew something bad was going to come from the controversial new flick “The Interview” — they just thought it’d be because of James Franco’s terrible acting, hacked emails reveal.
“James Franco proves once again that irritation is his strong suit which is a shame because the character could have been appealing and funny out of his hands,” Sony Pictures UK executive Peter Taylor wrote to his colleague in an email obtained by Gawker.
Taylor goes on to call the film, which centers around the assassination of North Korea’s dictator, a “misfire,” saying it is “unfunny and repetitive [with] a level of realistic violence that would be shocking in a horror movie.”
The comedy tells the story of two journalists, played by Franco and Seth Rogen, who are hired by the CIA to kill North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Several countries, including Mexico, Sweden, Russia, Belgium, Brazil and France, have requested “softer versions” of the movie following the hack and ensuing threats, according to The Daily Beast.
But not Stephen Basil-Jones, the executive vice president of Sony Pictures Releasing International for Australia, New Zealand and northern Asia, who wants the original version of the film to “sock it to ’em.”
Instead of getting lots of laughs, the film has enraged a group of hackers calling themselves the Guardians of Peace, who have launched a crippling cyberattack on Sony.
It has been nearly a month since the attack started, threatening Sony’s reputation and continuing to share stockpiles of information about its employees, upcoming films and correspondence among the moviemaking machine’s top dogs.
Sony co-chair Amy Pascal has been at the forefront of the strike. The embattled executive issued an apology last week following “thoughtless and insensitive” emails about President Obama’s taste in movies.
“Should I ask him if he liked DJANGO?” Pascal asked producer Scott Rudin before a fundraising event last year.
Rudin fired back with another slavery-themed film, “12 Years A Slave.”
On Monday, new emails were unearthed indicating Pascal is no stranger to making racially charged jokes. She attempted to soothe a colleague who felt sad that he was left out of the loop about a big TV deal Sony was announcing in July.
Steve Mosko, president of Sony Pictures Television, said he felt being in the dark would “cause major confusion” within his team and to the “outside world.”
But Pascal promised he just was “not used to TV being the new black baby” — referencing a recent trend among A-list celebrities like Madonna, Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron to adopt black children.