UPDATE #2: Sony will now release “The Interview” in 331 theaters on Christmas Day.
UPDATE: Sony has cancelled the Christmas Day, theatrical open of “The Interview”.
It can be argued that the Sony Pictures comedy, “The Interview”, is the most buzzed-about and controversial movie of 2014. However, while this will probably turn-out to be the biggest movie-related scandal stars James Franco and Seth Rogen have ever been a part of, it isn’t the first time each of them has been in a little hot water:
When “Knocked Up” was released in 2007, it sparked a new debate over the concept of raunchy, R-rated, romantic comedies. They’ve since become rather commonplace. The following year, Rogen co-starred with Elizabeth Banks in “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”, though most theaters and ads called it simply “Zack and Miri”. And Rogen played a much more “adult” mall cop in “Observe and Report”, released just three months after Sony’s own “Paul Blart” in 2009.
For Franco, it’s not just the movies (“Spring Breakers”, “Oz: The Great and Powerful”) that have put him into some tricky situations. He’s had several very opinionated online and magazine articles. And who can forget his bizarre 2011 Academy Awards hosting gig with Anne Hathaway?
Rogen and Franco previously starred together in “Pineapple Express” and “This is the End”, and currently in development, they’re working on an R-rated animated movie called “Sausage Party”, due out in 2016. There’s already mixed reaction based-on the concept.
Rogen says he has “no regrets” in making “The Interview”. But I’m guessing he hasn’t let-out too many of his trademark laughs since the now notorious Sony hacking incident began.