Oscar winner George Clooney slammed Hollywood power players for not supporting Sony Pictures following the cyberattack on the company over the satirical comedy The Interview about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Celebrity | Hollywood
George Clooney slams Hollywood for Sony drama
Actor says no one would sign a petition to support release of controversial comedy ‘The Interview’
- Reuters
- Published: 12:18 December 20, 2014
- Image Credit: EPA
- epa04072929 US actor/cast member and director George Clooney poses for photographers during the premiere of 'The Monuments Men' in Paris, France, 12 February 2014. The movie opens in French theaters on 12 March. EPA/IAN LANGSDON
Sony on Wednesday pulled the Christmas Day release of the film depicting a fictional assassination of Kim after major theatre chains said they would not show it due to unspecified threats made by the hackers.
Clooney, in an interview on Friday with online trade publication Deadline.com, said no one would sign a petition he and his agent circulated to top Hollywood figures supporting the film’s release.
The actor-director, whose past two directorial efforts were Sony releases, also criticised the media for failing to link the cyberattack to North Korea. The United States on Friday blamed the country for the devastating cyberattack, calling it an unacceptable act of intimidation and vowing to impose “costs and consequences” on those responsible.
“We’re talking about an actual country deciding what content we’re going to have. This affects every part of business that we have,” Clooney said. “We cannot be told we can’t see something by Kim Jong-un.” In the cyberattack on Sony and its employees, hackers released a stream of embarrassing emails and demanded that the film’s release be scrapped.
“We have a responsibility to stand up against this. That’s not just Sony, but all of us, including my good friends in the press who have the responsibility to be asking themselves: What was important? What was the important story to be covering?” Clooney added.
The news media’s early coverage of the hack largely focused on the content of leaked emails between Sony employees and film producers. Clooney, who won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the film Syriana in 2005 and Best Picture for Argo in 2012, said he is concerned about content in films and that it will now be judged differently.
“The movies we make are the ones with challenging content, and I don’t want to see it all just be superhero movies. Nothing wrong with them, but it’s nice for people to have other films out there,” he added.
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