The last film I watched that featured both Seth Rogen and James Franco was ‘This Is The End’ and I loved it. The storyline is pretty random, and it’s unusual for all the actors to play themselves, but I found it hilarious and thought it worked. To find out that the two were being paired to feature in a film about North Korea excited me, and it was a film I would not have missed.
Unfortunately Sony have cancelled the film, and the news hasn’t gone down too well with a lot of people. It’s shown a new side of America, one that backs down and gives in, which is unheard of and people aren’t happy about it.
Actors, filmmakers, politicians and pundits have openly expressed their disappointment regarding Sony’s decision to axe the film. Actor Steve Carell tweeted, ‘Sad day for creative expression’ which I think sums up the feeling of most people really. Comedy is supposed to be tongue in cheek and push the boundaries, not to cause potential terror attacks on excited movie goers.
Sony have given the hackers victory, opening the door for this kind of threat happening again.
What’s even more unfortunate is that Sony have no further plans to release the film on DVD, VoD or online. This just spurs me on further to find and watch the film.
I don’t think we’ll be seeing any films set in North Korea for a while, production company New Regency have just axed a forthcoming Steve Carell movie that was set in the country.
Not only is it a sad time for Hollywood, it’s sad times for comedy lovers like me. I love a film that pushes the boundaries to make you laugh, but it seems like things could be a bit more tame in the future. Who knows?