Many of Seth Rogen’s movies have pushed boundaries in regard to raunchy comedy. However, arguably none of them sent ripples throughout the political sphere like 2014’s The Interview did. The political satire flick, which Rogen co-directed with Evan Goldberg drew significant backlash and also became tied to the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures. Michael Lynton, who headed up the studio at that time and gave the movie the green light, recently reflected on the film and revealed former U.S. President Barack Obama’s reaction.
The Interview tells the story of two journalists – played by Rogen and James Franco – who organize an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Randall Park). Ultimately, those plans are co-opted by the CIA, who task the pair with assassinating the politician. By the summer of 2014, amid promotion of the film, the North Korean government threatened action against the U.S. if the film was released. That November, Sony was hacked by a terrorist group with purported ties to North Korea.
Lynton reflects on that situation in his new memoir, From Mistakes to Meaning: Owning Your Past So It Doesn’t Own You, which is co-written by Joshua L. Steiner. As expected, many people were not pleased with the situation surrounding Rogen and co.’s film. Lynton revealed he even spoke to President Obama – who was still in the White House at the time, eight months after the hack. As the ex-studio exec explained in his book (via Variety), the Commander-in-chief shared a brutally honest take on how everything panned out:
What were you thinking when you made killing the leader of a hostile foreign nation a plot point? Of course that was a mistake.
Barack Obama has proven himself to be a pop culture connoisseur but, given his professional position at this time, it tracks that he would weigh in on The Interview. Considering the movie’s political subject matter, some may wonder why Michael Lynton decided to give it the go-ahead in the first place. Lynton cited a rivalry between Sony’s Amy Pascal and Universal’s Stacey Snider as a reason for the latter wanting Rogen’s latest “outrageous” film. Also, Lynton named a more personal reason for his rationale:
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.
The Sony hack did indeed prove to be costly for the film studio, as a considerable amount of company details were divulged to the public. Personal information regarding employees was divulged as well. While North Korea denied launching the hack, the country didn’t express disapproval once it happened. In 2014, Seth Rogen was asked if he felt guilt over how the situation transpired and admitted that he found it hard to feel such a way at that point.
As for The Interview’s eventual release, the film was bumped back from its October 2014 release to December of that year. That time allowed for Rogen and co. to make required editorial alterations. After major theater chains declined to carry the film, Sony released it to digital platforms, and it grossed $40 million in digital rentals and an additional $12.3 million worldwide via a limited theatrical run. So, while the film ended making some money, that came at the expense of a hack and some shade from President Obama.
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