The Oscar-winning director confirmed this week that the 2014 state-sponsored hacking of Sony Pictures “ruined everything” for his planned historical epic, citing the Pyongyang regime's complete disregard for the theatrical window.
More than a decade after the devastating Sony hack shook the industry, the true victim of the international cyber-espionage incident has finally come forward: Martin Scorsese’s unproduced Cleopatra. The auteur told reporters that Seth Rogen’s 2014 comedy The Interview triggered a geopolitical crisis that tragically disrupted a very lucrative first-look deal, noting that Kim Jong Un "doesn’t have a sense of humor" when it comes to tentpole scheduling.
It was a total nightmare for the package. You spend two years soft-circling talent for a prestige historical epic, and suddenly a rogue state is wiping the studio's hard drives just because Seth Rogen made a stoner comedy.
Sources close to the production note that Scorsese had already spent months exchanging script notes with attached star Angelina Jolie, only for North Korean state hackers to selfishly prioritize their digital retaliation campaign over an obvious awards contender. The resulting executive shakeups and leaked emails created an impossible environment to secure the green light for an $80 million historical epic, forcing the studio to pivot entirely to repairing its destroyed IT infrastructure instead of finalizing above-the-line contracts.
Reps for the North Korean Supreme Leader did not return requests for comment, though industry insiders note the authoritarian regime has historically struggled to package legacy IP. Tracking for Pyongyang's cyber-attacks rarely accounts for collateral damage to the domestic box office, a recurring frustration for legacy filmmakers trying to lock down international financing.
Determined not to let international warfare derail another project, the director has reportedly instructed his agents to quietly lobby the State Department to ensure any impending global conflicts are safely pushed to the next fiscal year.