Shock new SONY leak: State Department official and RAND Corp OK’d the ending of THE INTERVIEW

The DAILY BEAST is reporting this news in fresh runs: Several emails now unearthed show how mightily political THE INTERVIEW was–so much so that the State Department played a key role in the inclusion of the film’s final gruesome death scene!

MORE FROM THE DAILY BEAST:

The Daily Beast has unearthed several emails that reveal at least two U.S. government officials screened a rough cut of the Kim Jong-Un assassination comedy The Interview in late June and gave the film—including a final scene that sees the dictator’s head explode—their blessing.

The claim that the State Department played an active role in the decision to include the film’s gruesome death scene is likely to cause fury in Pyongyang. Emails between the Sony Entertainment CEO and a security consultant even appear to suggest the U.S. government may support the notion that The Interview would be useful propaganda against the North Korean regime.

Back on June 20, the first threat lobbed by North Korean officials against the holiday blockbuster seemed as empty as a North Korean villager’s lunch box.

Even more bombshell information is becoming public..

William Boot goes on to report more in the BEAST exclusive, even that SONY got help from Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst with the RAND Corporation, to consult with them on THE INTERVIEW.. Boot writes, *spoiler alert* (since the DAILY BEAST didn’t warn before giving out the entire ending of the film):

After he saw the film, including the gruesome ending where a giant missile hits Kim Jong-Un’s helicopter in slow-mo as Katy Perry’s “Firework” plays, and Kim’s head catches on fire and explodes, Bennett gave his assessment of it in a June 25 email to Lynton, just five days after North Korea’s initial threat. “The North has never executed an artillery attack against the balloon launching areas. So it is very hard to tell what is pure bluster from North Korea, since they use the term ‘act of war’ so commonly,” wrote Bennett. “I also thought a bunch more about the ending. I have to admit that the only resolution I can see to the North Korean nuclear and other threats is for the North Korean regime to eventually go away.” He added, “In fact, when I have briefed my book on ‘preparing for the possibility of a North Korean collapse’ [Sept 2013], I have been clear that the assassination of Kim Jong-Un is the most likely path to a collapse of the North Korean government. Thus while toning down the ending may reduce the North Korean response, I believe that a story that talks about the removal of the Kim family regime and the creation of a new government by the North Korean people (well, at least the elites) will start some real thinking in South Korea and, I believe, in the North once the DVD leaks into the North (which it almost certainly will). So from a personal perspective, I would personally prefer to leave the ending alone.”

That same day, Boot writes, a US government official backed Bennett’s analysis..

The new information being revealed in media may play into events in the coming days.. namely whether the GUARIDANS OF PEACE perpetrate any more cyber attacks or whether theaters run away THE INTERVIEW..





THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY

  1. So noted.. I just reported this on the site as well (http://nightterrornews.com/2014/12/17/the-shows-over-christmas-canceled-for-sony/) ..This seems to be unprecedented.. A major studio chain backing down to pressure from a hacker group associated with North Korea.
    I actually think this may be the news event of the year–it has ramifications for both the entertainment world obviously and the political world, along with the geo political world. It is fascinating to see it play out..