The ongoing saga of the Kim Jung Un assassination comedy, The Interview, continues...
Who ever thought that a Seth Rogen film could potentially spark a war? The Interview, Rogen’s latest onscreen team-up with James Franco and directorial effort with partner Evan Goldberg, is a story about TV journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. The North Koreans, not exactly known for their sense of humor, have already issued statements urging Barack Obama to stop the film’s release and have threatened retaliation if their demands are not met.
The main thing the North Koreans are upset about, besides a plot centering on the assassination of their dear leader, is the depiction of actual military hardware worn by North Korean military men to honor Un and his father, the late Kim Jong Il. Such depiction of hardware worn by outsiders is considered highly blasphemous, and it has put Sony, the film’s distributor in an awkward position. Sony Corps is a Japanese owned company, and Japan and North Korea have decades of bad blood. In recent times, with North Korea now harboring nuclear weapons, the two nations have been trying to ease the tension. Needless to say, this film isn’t helping matters.
Sony has pushed the film’s release date back from an October release to December 25 and will digitally remove the offensive military hardware. It is also being reported that a scene involving the face of Kim Jong Un melting off his skull in slow motion is being cut out of the film entirely. Kim Jong Un and his deceased father have been known to be huge film fans, reportedly holding one of the largest private collections of films in the world, so it’s no surprise that a representative from Pyongyang has said that Kim Jong Un will screen the film for himself. In response Rogen tweeted, “I hope he likes it!” It’s strange to think two Canadian directors could have such an impact on international relations.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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