Name: The Interview: A costly decision for Sony (Part 1)
Uploaded: 2019-12-19
Duration: 3 min 27 s
Description: Fortune examines Sony’s disastrous hack and goes deep inside the studio before—and after—the attack took place.

 There was absolutely no explicit comment or evidence from the hackers. They were angry about a movie interview, and they're doing it for that reason. This particular hack was apparently sparked by the fact that they were making a movie that depicted Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea. This is a film where the interesting part started after the film was actually filmed. So the movie is sort of infamous as a tale of a talk show host who decides he's going to interview Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, and he falls in with the CIA and becomes sort of their agent to go on a mission to North Korea and assassinate its leader. And studio chiefs had all signed off on that idea. They're a little nervous about it, but they had going forward. In June of 2014, when the CEO of Sony saw the movie, he got very nervous about what he had seen. He was very worried about causing conflict between Japan and North Korea, which had always had very difficult relations. This was before any threats of any sort. So he called the CEO of Sony Pictures, Michael Lynton, and Lynton started to scramble to try to distance Sony Corporation, the Japanese company, from this movie. Roman was very upset. He was mortified at the appearance that this film, which was all about satirizing a brutal dictator was being reedited to appease a brutal dictator. So there's a big internal conflict between the filmmakers and the studio, and it played out over the next few months over the biggest issue, which was the reediting of the final scenes where Rogen and Goldberg characters commandeer a tank and kill Kim. It was very gory, very graphic. You see his melting face. You see his head pop. That was the original version of it. And Kaz Hirai, the CEO of Sony Corp, was very intent on having that change. But very shortly after that, within days, North Korea went ballistic and started issuing threats against the studio. They weren't saying anything about cyberattacks at that point or hacking or any of that sort, but they were ominously warning that Sony would suffer for it. They continued to promote the film and planned a very wide release, and then the hack took place. The hackers threatening an attack on the order of 9/11. Instantly, the movie becomes an incredible hot potato. Movie theaters say they don't want to show it, so Sony is left sort of seemingly at odds and they announced that they're not going to try to show the movie because their opinion, no movie theater will show it. Sony was very harshly criticized, including by the president of the United States. Yes, I think they made a mistake. We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States. Now that's not who we are. Sony was absolutely flayed. And frankly, nobody in Hollywood came to their defense. Then they found a coalition of different people or companies who would show it. They announced they would show it video on demand. Some smaller chains announced they would show it too. So ultimately, it was a sort of a multi-step rollout with some video on demand, some smaller theaters. Ultimately, Apple and Sony even itself made the film available on their video on demand networks. 

The Interview: A costly decision for Sony (Part 1)

Tech

Fortune examines Sony’s disastrous hack and goes deep inside the studio before—and after—the attack took place.

there was absolutely no explicit comment or evidence from hackers. They were angry about the interview when we're doing it. For that reason, this particular hat was apparently sparked by the fact that they were making a movie. I think there's a film where the interesting part started after the film was actually filmed. So the movie is sort of infamous as a tale of a talk show host who decides he's going to interview Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, and he falls in with the CIA and become sort of their agents. Thio go on a mission to North Korea and assassinated and studio chief. It all signed off on that idea there. Well, I'm nervous about it, but they had going forward. In June of 2014 the CEO of Sony saw the movie. He got very nervous about what he had seen. He was very worried about causing conflict between Japan, North Korea, which it always had during difficult relations. This is before any threats of any sort. So he called the CEO of Sony Pictures Michael living, and when you start to scramble to try to sell any corporation, a Japanese company from this movie. Roman was very upset, mortified at the appearance that the film, which was all about Satya Rising, a brutal dictator, was being re edited to appease a brutal dictator. So there's a big internal conflict between the filmmakers in the studio, and it played out over the next few months over the biggest issue, which was the re editing in the final scene, where Rogan and Goldberg characters commandeer a tank and kill him. Very gory, very graphic belting head pop that was the original version of it. And, um, catch a ride, of course, very intent on having that changing. But very shortly after that, within days on North Korea with ballistics and started issuing threats against studio. They weren't saying anything about cyber attacks at that point, or hacking or that sort, but they were ominously warning that something would suffer for it. They continue to promote the film and playing a very wide release, and then the actor place hackers threatening attacks on the order of 11. Instantly, the movie becomes an incredible hot potato movie. Theaters say they don't want to show it to. Sony has left sort of seemingly at odds. They announced that they're not gonna try to show the movie because their opinions don't show it. Sony was very harshly criticized, including by the president. United States. Yes, I think they made a mistake. We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States. That's not who we are. Sony was absolutely played, and frankly, nobody in Hollywood came to their defense. Then they found a coalition of different people or companies who would show up. They announced they would show it video on demand. Some smaller chains announced they would show it to. Ultimately, it was sort of a multi step roll out with some video on demand. Smaller theaters. Ultimately, Apple and Sony even itself made film available on their the on demand networks.