‘The Interview’: Christmas Day crowd
sees comedy to make a statement

December 31, 2014
Santa Paula News

Christmas Day, after opening presents and spending quality holiday time with family Barry Goodman of Camarillo hopped into his car and drove out to Santa Paula and bought a ticket to “The Interview” a film he said he wanted to see both for comedic entertainment and a patriotic statement.

The 2:15 p.m. Regency 7 Theater screening of “The Interview,” about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by a “news light” TV celebrity interviewer and his frustrated producer, was almost a sell out.

The crowd applauded - if not for the quality of the film, at least for the American spirit - at the end of the film, which had been scheduled for a Christmas Day release but was pulled December 17 by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Sony’s initial decision to withhold “The Interview” came after the studio was hacked in November and a series of executive embarrassing emails were released. The purported hackers - the FBI said its investigation revealed North Korea was behind the hacking, a charge North Korea denied - later demanded the movie not be shown and made veiled threats of violence to theaters and audiences. The veiled threats were made with enough conviction that first major theater chains and then the studio itself announced “The Interview” would go unseen.

That move was widely criticized, bringing even President Barak Obama into the fray noting that withholding the film starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, the co-director and writer, set a troubling precedent inconsistent with the First Amendment’s guarantee of free expression. 

Surprisingly, Sony announced two days before Christmas that the film would be shown in theaters and - perhaps for the first time in film world history - simultaneously released for online viewing.

“I liked it,” said Goodman, “it was pretty funny... and of course I wanted to see it right away in case Sony pulled it again. I’m firmly against censorship like this and that was my main motivation for coming today.”

A Regency 7 employee said it was a particularly busy Christmas Day, a traditional movie release day by studios especially targeting the younger crowd.

“Annie” and “Penguins of Madagascar” indeed were showing, as were more films for more mature audiences, but “Most everyone here today is for ‘The Interview,’ “ said the employee, busy purveying popcorn and other theater treats to the crowd.

There were no reports of incidents at any of the 331 mostly independent theaters showing “The Interview” nationwide.

In the wake of the release of the film the North Korean National Defence Commission released a statement Saturday accusing Obama of being “the chief culprit who forced the Sony Pictures Entertainment to indiscriminately distribute the movie... “

A massive internet failure that hit North Korea last week was blamed on government officials of the United States which has denied the charge.





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