News Digest

What’s all the fuss? Seth Rogen defends his Kim Jong-Un comedy

Actor-director Seth Rogen has said a film comedy about the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, which sparked a threat by the nuclear-armed state and is suspected of causing a cyber-attack on a movie studio, was not meant to be controversial. Rogen, who wrote, produced and directed The Interview with Evan Goldberg, said the film is “very silly”, and had not expected the media storm around the production. The movie about a fictional CIA plot to assassinate the leader of the isolated communist state, has infuriated Pyongyang, which has previously declared it an “act of war”, and warned of “merciless retaliation”.

The movie itself is very silly and wasn’t meant to be controversial in any way.

Seth Rogen, writer, producer and director of The Interview

There has been speculation a damaging cyber-attack on Sony Pictures was in retaliation for the film.The hack, by a group calling itself the Guardians Of Peace, crippled key systems at Sony Pictures, leading to the leaking of thousands of damaging documents and five films online. Speaking about his film, Rogen told ABC : “I don’t know if the hacking honestly is because of our movie, definitively or not. I know that it has been the centre of a lot of media attention lately.” Rogen said the film goes to great lengths to separate the North Korean regime from the country’s people, saying they were “victims of a horrible situation”.