Leaked emails from Sony Pictures Entertainment show that Sony Corp. Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai demanded changes to a key scene involving Kim Jong-un. Writer and co-director Seth Rogen resisted the edits to the best of his ability.
Prior to the Sony Pictures hacking, Mr. Hirai wanted to alter a scene in which Kim’s head explodes after being hit with tanks munitions.
“And this isn’t some flunky. It’s the chairman of the entire Sony Corporation who I am dealing (with),” Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, wrote Mr. Rogen, Reuters reported Wednesday.
The star responded by saying that he could tone down Mr. Kim’s “flaming hair,” but that too many edits would render his joke useless.
“The head explosion can’t be more obscured than it is because we honestly feel that if it’s any more obscured, you won’t be able to tell it’s exploding and the joke won’t work,” Mr. Rogen said, Reuters reported.
In another email dated Aug. 15, Mr. Rogen said “This is now a story of Americans changing their movie to make North Koreans happy. […] That is a very damning story,” Reuters said.
“The Interview” will be released Dec. 25, and stars Mr. Rogen and James Franco as media personalities who are hired by the CIA to kill the North Korean leader.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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