The Interview
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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- not to be confused with The Interview (1960), directed by Ernest Pintoff.
The Interview is a 2014 American political satire spy comedy film directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. It is their second directorial work, following This Is the End (2013). The screenplay is by Dan Sterling, based upon a story he co-authored with Rogen and Goldberg. The film stars Rogen and James Franco as journalists who set up an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Randall Park), and are recruited by the CIA to assassinate him. The film is also heavily inspired by a Vice documentary which was shot in 2012.
Rogen and Goldberg developed the idea for The Interview in the late 2000s, with Kim Jong-il as the original assassination target. In 2011, after Jong-il's death, Jong-un replaced him as the North Korean leader. Rogen and Goldberg re-developed the script with the focus on Jong-un's character. The announcement for the film was made in March 2013, along with the beginning of pre-production. Principal photography took place in Vancouver from October to December 2013.
In June 2014, the North Korean government threatened action against the United States if Columbia Pictures released the film. Columbia delayed the release from October to December, and reportedly re-edited the film to make it more acceptable to North Korea. In November, the computer systems of parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment were hacked by the "Guardians of Peace," a group the FBI claims has ties to North Korea. The group also threatened terrorist attacks against cinemas that showed the film. Major cinema chains opted not to release the film, leading Sony to release it for online rental and purchase on December 24, 2014, followed by a limited release at select cinemas the next day.
The Interview grossed $40 million in digital rentals, making it Sony's most successful digital release, and earned an additional $11.2 million worldwide at the box office on a $44 million budget. It received mixed reviews for its humor and subject matter, although a few critics praised the performances of Rogen, Franco, Park and Diana Bang.
Plot
Dave Skylark is the host of the talk show Skylark Tonight, where he interviews celebrities about personal topics and gossip. After Skylark and his crew celebrate their 1,000th episode, the show's producer Aaron Rapaport is upset by a producer peer who criticized the show as not being a real news program. A while later Rapaport reveals his concern and urge for change, to which Skylark agrees. Skylark discovers that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a fan of Skylark Tonight, prompting Rapaport to arrange an interview. Rapaport travels to a place outside Dandong, China to receive instructions from Sook-yin Park, the North Korean chief propagandist, and Rapaport accepts the task of interviewing Kim, on behalf of Skylark.
The next day, CIA Agent Lacey shows up at Skylark and Rapaport's place, proposing that the duo assassinate Kim using a transdermal strip that will expose Kim to ricin via handshake; they reluctantly agree. Skylark carries the ricin strip hidden inside a pack of gum. Upon their arrival in the presidential palace in Pyongyang, they are introduced to security officers Koh and Yu; Koh discovers the strip and chews it, believing it to be gum. That night, Lacey airdrops them two more strips from an UAV, but in order to smuggle it back to their room, Rapaport has to evade a Siberian tiger and then hide the container in his rectum. Later, Kim shows up and introduces himself to Skylark.
Skylark spends the day with Kim by playing basketball, hanging out and partying. Kim persuades Skylark that he is misunderstood as a cruel dictator and as a failed administrator, and they become friends. At dinner, Koh has a seizure due to the ricin poisoning and accidentally kills Yu before dying. The next morning, Skylark feels guilty and discards one of the ricin strips, then thwarts Rapaport's attempt to poison Kim with the second strip. After another dinner mourning the death of Kim's bodyguards, Skylark witnesses Kim's malicious side as he threatens war with South Korea. Skylark leaves and after taking a walk, he discovered that a nearby grocery store is merely a façade. He realizes that Kim has been lying to him.
At the same time, during attempted sexual intercourse with Rapaport, who still has the ricin strip in his hand, Sook-yin reveals that she despises Kim and apologizes for defending the regime. Skylark, Rapaport, and Sook-yin form a plan to break Kim's cult of personality by causing him to cry on air. As they arm themselves for the event, Rapaport and Sook-yin have sex. Before the broadcast starts, Kim presents Skylark with a puppy to keep.
During the internationally televised interview with Kim, Skylark addresses increasingly sensitive topics and challenges Kim's need for his father's approval. Meanwhile, Sook-yin and Rapaport seize control of the broadcasting center and fend off guards trying to halt the broadcast. Despite his initial resistance, Kim eventually cries uncontrollably and soils himself after Skylark sings "Firework" by Katy Perry (having learned of Kim's fondness of Perry earlier), ruining his reputation. Feeling betrayed, Kim shoots Skylark and leaves, but Skylark reveals he has survived due to wearing a bulletproof vest. Skylark, Rapaport, and Sook-yin regroup with the puppy in tow and escape the presidential palace with the unexpected help of a panel-control guard. The trio hijack Kim's Soviet tank (which had been given to Kim Il-sung by Joseph Stalin and then passed down to Kim) to get to their pickup point. Kim boards a helicopter, and his army pursues the group. He prepares nuclear missiles, but before he can issue the command to launch, Skylark fires a shell from the tank and destroys Kim's helicopter, killing him as well as everyone on board. With the immediate threat over, Sook guides Skylark and Rapaport to an escape route, and they are rescued by three SEAL Team Six members disguised as Korean People's Army troops and are loaded onto a rescue craft. Back in the U.S., Skylark writes a book about his experience, and North Korea moves toward becoming a denuclearized democracy with Sook-yin as interim leader.
Cast
- James Franco as Dave Skylark
- Seth Rogen as Aaron Rapaport
- Lizzy Caplan as Agent Lacey
- Randall Park as Kim Jong-un
- Diana Bang as Sook-yin Park
- Timothy Simons as Malcolm
- Reese Alexander as Agent Botwin
- Anders Holm as Jake
- Charles Rahi Chun as General Jong
The film also features cameos from Eminem, Rob Lowe, Bill Maher, Seth Meyers, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Schwartz, Brian Williams, and Scott Pelley. Iggy Azalea, Nicki Minaj, Emma Stone, Zac Efron, and Guy Fieri appear in the title graphic for Skylark Tonight.
See also
