Sony is reliving the nightmare after last November’s hacking

Apr 18, 2015 07:52 GMT  ·  By
Amy Pascal, former Sony Pictures boss, fired after last November's Sony Hack
   Amy Pascal, former Sony Pictures boss, fired after last November's Sony Hack

Last November, as it was getting ready to release Seth Rogen’s comedy “The Interview,” starring Rogen, James Franco and a hilarious version of North Korean dictator Kim Jung-un, Sony was hacked, and personal information and private and business email correspondence were released online.  

The hackers claimed they wanted to halt the release of the film, which was insulting to North Korea, but it came out either way in the end. Just when Sony thought it could move past the scandal, Julian Assange of WikiLeaks decided to post all the documents in a searchable database, deeming them “public domain.”

So today we’re treated to countless additional stories involving anyone from Bradley Cooper and Amy Adams, to David O. Russell, Emma Stone and Angelina Jolie, and even pop band One Direction, the biggest boyband of the moment.

The Cameron Crowe and Amy Pascal correspondence

Most of these stories come from correspondence between writer / director Cameron Crowe and former Sony Pictures boss Amy Pascal, who stepped down from her position after the hack. Crowe has the movie “Aloha” with Emma Stone and Bradley Cooper coming out this year, so many exchanges between him and Pascal were on this topic.

Stone comes out for the better from all this, but she’s probably the only one. Crowe is absolutely enamored with her, praising her acting and her professionalism, and saying that “Aloha” will prove to the entire world that she can be an amazing leading lady.

Pascal isn’t convinced. She writes that Stone thinks too highly of herself, but she admits that she will do justice to the movie. Crowe calls Bradley Cooper “such an odd bird,” but is thrilled that he gets to work with him.

Rooney Mara, David O. Russell and Angelina Jolie

One email is from Rooney Mara to another Sony executive, inquiring about the chances of ever making a “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” sequel. That one came out in 2011, starring Mara and Daniel Craig, and though planned as a first installment in a trilogy, progress on the follow-up has been so slow that no one involved believes any more that it’ll get made.

Mara knows this too, but she wants to know what official answer she can give to reporters asking her about it. She also says she’s quite upset that the franchise is dead, because she’d been very invested in the character.

Director David O. Russell is still a nightmare to work with, another email reveals. Here’s what journalist Jonathan Alter writes of his behavior on the set of “American Hustle”: “He grabbed one guy by the collar, cursed out people repeatedly in front of others and so abused Amy Adams that Christian Bale got in his face and told him to stop acting like an [expletive]hole. He treated the crew like [expletive], demanded his own bathroom at all times and frightened people, as he famously had on Three Kings.”

On “Three Kings,” Russell headbutted leading man George Clooney in an argument, which led to one of the biggest and most mediated fallings-out in showbiz. To this day, Clooney won’t speak to him.

The complete set of leaked documents also includes more conversations between Pascal and producer Scott Rudin about Angelina Jolie. Rudin previously called her “that minimally talented spoiled brat,” because she insisted on doing the movie “Cleopatra” her own way.

One Direction, David Fincher, Bill Murray, Rita Ora

Now for something lighter, but just as offensive, at least for One Directioners, the fans of the British pop band One Direction: Sony had their “roles” planned out for marketing, and they assigned Harry Styles that of “the slow one.”

Pascal says that he’s “adorable,” but “slow” nonetheless. Meanwhile, Zayn Malik, who famously left the band earlier this year to spend some time out of the spotlight (read: to launch a solo career, allegedly), was supposed to be “the dark horse,” the player.

Director David Fincher (“Gone Girl,” “Fight Club”), who was attached to direct “Jobs” but eventually lost it to Danny Boyle when Sony lost the rights over the script, knew that the studio had a leak problem long before the hack. In several emails, he complains to Pascal that inside information about the film keeps ending in major trade publications like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, which means there’s a hole that needs plugging.

Cameron Crowe doesn’t like Bill Murray, based on his experience with him on “Aloha.” In another email to Pascal, Crowe praises the entire film’s cast, “except Bill Murray… who is pretty much what you saw.”

In another email from Pascal to another collaborator who wanted Rita Ora for a major role based on the praise that Hollywood hot-shot Harvey Weinstein heaped on her, the former Sony boss says she has no idea who the singer is. This sparked a frenzy of headlines along the lines of “No one in Hollywood has any idea who Rita Ora is.”

Sony isn’t laughing

Some of these revelations might be amusing, others very juicy in terms of gossip, while others are downright offensive. Assange said in a statement yesterday that he believed the public had the right to have access to this kind of information, because it “shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation.”

Sony, of course, isn’t laughing. Assange / WikiLeaks had no right to publish the documents because of the manner in which they had been obtained. This was private information that was stolen, and no matter the nature of the conversations had in the email exchanges, it should not have been made public.

It goes without saying that the new rounds of revelations won’t do Sony any good image-wise.