The real-life drama happening because of James Franco and Seth Rogen's buddy comedy "The Interview" is turning out to be just as much fun as the movie itself. First, the nation's government called the movie an act of war. Now their U.N. ambassador has put pen to paper to ask the Secretary General to outlaw "The Interview" entirely.
In "The Interview," Seth Rogen and James Franco star as the producer and star of a celebrity tabloid show who land an unlikely interview with Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un. Before they leave for Pyongyang, things take an unexpected turn for them when the CIA asks them to use this once-in-a-lifetime infiltration opportunity to assassinate Kim Jong-un. Despite the fact that they have no training whatsoever.
With "This is the End," Rogen, frequent on-screen collaborator Franco, writer/director Evan Goldberg tapped into pop culture's obsession with apocalyptic scenarios and turned it into an outrageous farce. "The Interview" looks to be cut from the same cloth: a topical satire based on a trending cultural topic. Namely, everyone in the free world is worried about North Korea and its maniacal dictator Kim Jung-un. So naturally, Rogen, Goldberg and Franco have come up with a wish-fulfillment fantasy about an attempted assassination on what all accounts indicate is a genuine mad man.
In late June, an official from the North Korean Foreign Ministry issued a statement that accused the United States government of being ultimately behind what they view as an act of terrorist-level propaganda. The statement included a warning that the U.S. allowing the film to release to theaters would "invite a strong and merciless countermeasure."
North Korea's U.N. ambassador, Ja Song Nam, has now taken things a step further. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has reportedly received a letter from Ja Song Nam that asks for "The Interview" to be banned from distribution to theaters. In other words, to make it illegal to watch the film.
Of course, all of this comes without knowing exactly what happens to the dictator at the end of the movie. So far, all that Sony's shown of the movie is a trailer, plot description and a poster. Whether or not Rogen and Franco's characters succeed in their fictional assassination attempt remains to be seen.
"The Interview" opens October 10, 2014. Unless Kim Jong-un gets his way, that is.
