Editorial: Why Sony Cancelled "The Interview"

INTERVIEW CONCLUDED by Bennett Campbell Ferguson

Above: A poster for "The Interview," featuring its stars, Seth Rogen and James Franco

 

Like a freak snowstorm, the news breathed through my radio: Sony pictures had decided not to release their film “The Interview.” 

I was shocked.  I hadn’t even been planning to see the film, yet the announcement made me feel like I’d had the wind knocked out of me, like that time when I crashed down on the bark chips in third grade.  A whole movie, an entire mega-budget movie had been completed and wasn’t going to be released?  It was unheard of.  It was frightening.

            “The Interview” was always going to be a shot in the dark of Christmas Day (its penciled-in release date).  Directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, it was a comedy about a talk show host (James Franco) hired to assassinate Kim Jong-un, leading to a series of hi jinks in which, judging by the trailer (which features tank-fueled explosions and a Katy Perry song), nothing goes according to the proverbial plan.

            I could never quite believe that “The Interview” got made in the first place.  A film about the attempted murder of a known world leader?  From the directors a gross-out Hollywood comedy called “This Is The End”?  It seemed like an unbelievably brash proposition.  Of course for all I know (and now, I’ll never know), “The Interview” is a tepid, easy blockbuster filled with blandly crowd-pleasing drug and sex gags.  But I have to admit that I was struck by the ludicrous audacity of Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Rogen making a movie that would have further collapsed the divide between pop culture and politics.

            I’m not here to offer my opinions on Sony’s decision.  Or the movie.  Perhaps “The Interview” is an unseen masterpiece; perhaps the fact that it will never be seen makes it more interesting than it deserves to be.  I just want to implore you to take in the importance of what this means for the film community.  A major studio made a movie, was threatened with retribution, and decided to keep it from theaters, even though it meant losing tens of millions of dollars.

            Now we find out what happens next.