Scorsese Says Sony Hack Sank His Cleopatra Film

Scorsese said the project was ready to move forward, with a script in place and Jolie set to play Cleopatra VII. He recalled the fallout from the 2014 Sony hack, which he linked to North Korea’s anger over The Interview, a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco about a fictional plot to kill Kim Jong Un. Scorsese said the episode “ruined Cleopatra.”

The hack exposed thousands of Sony emails. Among them were messages from producer Scott Rudin to Sony executive Amy Pascal that described Jolie in insulting terms. Scorsese attributed the film’s collapse to the wider consequences of the attack, though Rogen was not directly responsible for the project being canceled.

Screenwriter Eric Roth, who later worked with Scorsese on Killers of the Flower Moon, had been set to write the Cleopatra film. Scorsese and Rogen have since worked together: Scorsese appeared as himself in the first episode of Rogen’s Apple TV series The Studio, whose plot also features a project of Scorsese’s being dropped.