'The Interview': Should the movie have been made in the first place?
I鈥檝e seen worse movies than Sony鈥檚 鈥淭he Interview,鈥� starring James聽Franco and Seth Rogen as two bumblers enlisted by the CIA to assassinate聽North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But I don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e ever seen a聽movie this mediocre that had more real-world repercussions. According to US intelligence officials on Wednesday, the $44 million movie, which North Korean officials deemed an 鈥渁ct of war,鈥� instigated a聽full-on cyberattack linked to the North on the Sony motion picture company, leaking sensitive and incriminating e-mails and effectively shutting down its computer systems. Hackers threatened the theaters playing the film with 9/11-style violence, forcing the studio to cancel distribution of the film on all platforms. It was scheduled to open聽Christmas Day, no less.
[Editor's note: Sony later changed their position, releasing the film digitally and to independent theaters on Dec. 25, though most major theater chains declined to screen the film.]
What was Sony thinking? In the history of corporate bonehead聽decisions, the financing and distributing of a slobbola comedy about the聽assassination of a sitting world leader has to rank right up there with the聽New Coke.
I saw the film last week at a press preview before Sony pulled the plug. A brief summary: Franco plays Dave Skylark, a self-infatuated聽TV talk-show host specializing in ratings-grabbing celebrity sleaze.聽Rogen plays Aaron Rapaport, his best friend and producer. Despite聽his commercial success, Aaron craves respectability. His opportunity聽arrives when Kim is revealed as a Skylark fan who will consent to an聽exclusive interview 鈥� provided the interview is conducted in Pyongyang聽and he controls both the answers and the questions. Hearing this, the CIA聽persuades the duo to do their patriotic duty and dispose of Kim (Randall聽Park) with a ricin-laced handshake.聽
Once in North Korea, however, Skylark and Kim hit it off, so the聽hit, for a while, is off. They carry on like a pair of frat-boy bromancers,聽shooting hoops, boozing, womanizing, smoking dope. When reality聽strikes 鈥� Skylark is reminded that the Katy Perry-obsessed Kim starves聽his people, has nuclear ambitions, etc. 鈥� the deed is carried out and Kim,聽fleeing in his helicopter, is last seen being blown to smithereens.
As you can probably surmise from this, 鈥淭he Interview鈥� is not exactly聽hard-hitting political satire. It鈥檚 more like a gross-out jamboree with just聽enough political window-dressing to make it seem 鈥渄aring.鈥� (Much is聽made of the fact that the Supreme Leader is reputed by his people to be聽so superhuman he has no need to go to the bathroom.) But even if the film were sharper, even if it was made by satirists on the order of Stanley聽Kubrick and Terry Southern in their 鈥淒r. Strangelove鈥� days, I would still聽argue that greenlighting such a film is a blunder. The exercise of free speech does not exempt one from the consequences of stupidity.
I remember seeing a movie at the 2006聽Toronto Film Festival called 鈥淭he Death of a President,鈥� a British faux聽documentary about the assassination of then-President George W. Bush聽and the ascension of Dick Cheney, whose rise was viewed almost as聽alarmingly as the assassination. As with 鈥淭he Interview,鈥� many of聽the major US theater chains refused to show the film, and it rapidly聽vanished.聽
The opposite is true for 鈥淭he Interview,鈥� which has moved to the聽nation鈥檚 front pages without ever having been released at all. My guess is that聽Sony greenlighted this movie simply because they thought it would clean聽up with the gross-out crowd and, besides, Kim Jong-un, with his funny聽haircut, was a safe target. (Added bonus: Unlike China, North Korea is聽not, to put it mildly, a huge potential movie market.) Would Sony have聽made a thriller in which, say, Vladimir Putin was assassinated? More to聽the point, imagine the outrage that would ensue if the North Koreans or聽the Russians or the Iranians made a movie 鈥� a comedy, no less 鈥� about the聽incineration of President Obama.聽
Movies, even dumb movies like 鈥淭he Interview,鈥� are staged in the聽world arena, and it鈥檚 clueless for Hollywood to pretend otherwise. Those聽who denounce Sony for setting a terrible precedent by pulling the film are聽only half right. What about the precedent of making the movie in the first聽place?聽
