A Christmas pay-per-view charity event for victims of hacking. A double-feature with Jerry Lewis's still-unreleased Holocaust film. A DVD airdrop over North Korea.
It's one of the strangest distribution discussions in Hollywood this week, or any week. Sony's decision to cancel the release of the Seth Rogen/James Franco/Kim Jung Un assassination satire "The Interview" has turned the latest bromantic comedy into something no marketing team could cook up: a hot underground commodity.
Sure, the latest vehicle for the stars of "Pineapple Express" reportedly has some serious quality control issues. But as the centerpiece of a hacking campaign that's exposed petty jealousies, salary discrepancies, even celebrity aliases, "The Interview" has been cast into the debate over censorship and artistic freedom. Now, there's a movement to release the film — even if it's unlikely to recoup much of its $40 million-plus budget.
"It's unfortunate the decision was made not to go ahead with the release," said John Sloss, the sales agent whose projects have included "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Napoleon Dynamite." "But it could be a great boon for the movement of at-home viewing."
Sloss, like many movie business figures interviewed this week, said he's called friends he knows at Sony to urge them to put out the film. He said it quickly became clear he's not the only one who has had that thought. Sony's official message is that there are no plans to release the film, which stars Rogen and Franco as a pair of journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The decision to cancel the Dec. 25 release sparked a slew of celebrities, from Rob Lowe to Jimmy Kimmel, to tweet their outrage at Sony for bowing to threats by the hackers.
Mark Cuban, the brash owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Magnolia Pictures and chairman of cable network AXS TV, said he understood the decision to cancel the theatrical run.
"People would have avoided theaters and showing the movie and hurt everyone," Cuban said.
Cuban also is personally invested in the security issues that led to the hack. When contacted for an interview, he agreed to answer questions only on a private message application he created. On Cyber Dust, messages disappear and are deleted after being shown on a screen.
His release scenario would feature a $29.95 one-time pay-per-view screening on Christmas night.
"Now that it's canceled they actually have a reason and tons of interest to try new platforms," he said.
The question is how much interest there would have been in the film if the hackers hadn't launched their campaign. In November, the hackers began making threats, leading to the release of a series of internal documents, from emails to salary data, laying bare embarrassing interpersonal exchanges between major Hollywood figures.
These included the studio's concerns about "The Interview." Among other comments, U.K. Sony Pictures executive Peter Taylor, in an email exchange, called the film "unfunny and repetitive."
But this week, with the Christmas release of "The Interview" approaching, the hackers raised the stakes, warning people to stay away from theaters and "Remember the 11th of September 2001."
The country's main theater chains said they would not screen "The Interview," and Sony then canceled its release.
Actor George Clooney, in an interview with Deadline Hollywood this week, blasted the decision to drop the film, called for "The Interview" to be released online and said he feared the incident would have a lasting impact on freedom of expression.
"Everybody was doing their jobs," he told the publication, "but somehow, we have allowed North Korea to dictate content, and that is just insane."
Though some actors have been outspoken, media professionals have generally tried to shy away from conversation about the film. Officials at Hulu and Netflix along with a group of the entertainment world's most prominent publicists declined comment for this story.
Clooney, in his interview, expressed frustration that he couldn't get anybody in his business to sign a petition he circulated stating a desire to "stand up" to the hackers.
"I think the damage has been done," said Ethan Goldman, who heads development at Morgan Spurlock's Warrior Poets production company. "The fact that Hollywood caved to this cyber-terrorist group, it's a terrible precedent."
He suggested giving the film away for free online.
"And just say we make a statement about censorship and what we will and won't cave to," Goldman said. "We're still going to distribute it. We're doing it the way a lot of films do now. Enjoy, Merry Christmas. It's a virtual stocking stuffer."
Movies are regularly banned outside the United States for either violent or sexual content or unflattering portrayals of political leaders. The decision to not release "The Interview" because of threats is unprecedented.
It is also changing the conversation about "The Interview" itself. One publicist, who asked not to be named, said it could potentially become "a cult classic."
"Hairspray" director John Waters, who knows a thing about cult classics, had his own idea for how to release "The Interview." In a phone interview, he suggested a double feature with "The Day the Clown Cried," the still-unreleased 1972 film that starred Jerry Lewis playing a circus clown in a concentration camp during World War II.
"Go to the art theaters and see what happens," he said. "Start as obscure art and keep going wider."
The leaders of the Human Rights Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in New York, said this week they had their own idea for a special release. They want to include DVDs of "The Interview" in packages of censored items they've dropped by balloon over North Korea.
Other items they've distributed: "Desperate Housewives" and "Battlestar Galactica."
The balloon drops won't resolve the $40 million question: How does Sony recoup its losses on "The Interview."
They won't, says Pat Kingsley, the veteran publicist who once represented Tom Cruise, Sandra Bullock and Jack Nicholson, among others.
She imagines the company now views "The Interview" as "a bad dream" that they would like to forget.
"If they were going to put it out," Kingsley said, "they might as well have put it out while it was at its height of publicity. It'll never be more sought after than it is right now."
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By Geoff Edgers
The Washington Post
Tue Dec 23 2014
Here is what some Hollywood industry play-makers think can be done for 'The Interview' to be seen by an audience.
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