Seth Rogen is finally prepared to address the legendary legacy of "The Interview" almost a decade later.
Rogen opened up to Tony Hawk and Jason Ellis about the "catastrophic" consequences of the infamous 2014 comedy about a faux assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during the Hawk vs. Wolf podcast presented by MALKA Media.
“It was a really horrible situation,” Rogen says. “People we knew were being fired from it. The studio's director [Sony Pictures' Amy Pascal] was basically dismissed from it. It really caused enormous shifts in Hollywood at the time, and I think how business was done in some ways.”
James Franco is a talk show host who travels to North Korea for an exclusive interview. However, the CIA recruits him and his TV producer (Rogen) to assassinate the dictator instead. The film's New York premiere was also canceled by North Korean authorities due to the alleged Guardians of Peace cyber-attack on the film.
“It kind of illustrated how a film might be successful in some ways if it has a complete theatrical campaign and then goes to streaming,” Rogen said. “I think it's still the largest movie that's ever streamed on Google, which is crazy. Students come up to me and say they're teaching it in their university course.”
"It really re-calibrated what I think is controversial." He continued on social media, "That's not controversy." Like having the UN make a statement about it, that's a controversy.
Rogen's lasting "fallout" wasn't as severe as he anticipated.
"We were able to continue filming," he said. "It used to be the most controversial thing in the world, and now I'll be flipping channels on a Sunday afternoon and it's just playing."
Following the death threats against him and fellow "The Interview" actors, Rogen joked that "people don't usually want to kill me for one of my films until they've paid 12 bucks for it."
Rogen described "The Interview" as a "horrible experience" while on The Graham Norton Show.
“It's awful to be blaming someone for almost starting a war.” Rogen said in 2016: “I had personal protection, but one day they just disappeared. I was like, 'I guess I'm safe now.' The studio just didn't want to pay for security any longer.’