14 DAY TRIAL // Amy Pascal, the Co-Chairwoman of the main studio at Sony Pictures, won’t be holding this position as of May 2015, it has been confirmed. Pascal had been with Sony since 1988, and until late last year, she seemed to have secured her spot there for a while longer.
Then the Sony Hack happened.
The statement confirming Pascal’s departure obviously doesn’t mention it because that would equal an admission that she’s taking the fall for the things revealed in the leaked emails (many of them portraying her as racist and unprofessional to the extreme), but that’s the word online: Pascal is being punished.
The Sony Hack and Amy Pascal
Pascal was one of the 2 people at Sony who got the most negative media attention, the other one being her close associate and friend (except when they weren’t fighting and trading insults), producer Scott Rudin.
The email exchanges between them that were leaked by the hackers got the most attention, and for good reason: they made racist jokes about President Obama, they bickered and made fun of Angelina Jolie, they discussed anything from Michael Fassbender’s manhood to Leonardo DiCaprio’s diva airs, and they fought non-stop over developing projects like “Cleopatra” (with Jolie) and a Steve Jobs biopic (which Sony no longer has the rights to).
As admired and respected as Pascal had been before the leak, as ridiculed she was afterwards because the emails revealed a side of her that she had never allowed the public to see. With good reason.
So now that the dust has settled on the hack, she is stepping down from her position, but will remain with the studio as head of her own production company.
Amy Pascal’s legacy
Now here’s where things might take a negative turn as far as the fans are concerned. All gossip aside, Pascal had several productions that she championed with passion, and their fate hangs in the balance now that she’s out, THR points out.
Should Sony want to leave the controversy around the leaked emails completely in the past, they might try to turn over a new leaf by dropping everything Pascal worked on from their slate. Or they could pick a replacement that simply doesn’t have the same kind of confidence she had in those projects.
Those most in danger right now are the “Amazing Spider-Man” franchise, the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” franchise and the Jolie vehicle “Cleopatra.” However, notes the trade publication, changes could also affect the revived “Men in Black,” which might be killed off, together with all plans for a sequel to “Salt,” which, at one point, was very close to landing Jolie for lead again.
Considering the actress was labeled a “minimally talented spoilt brat” in one conversation between Pascal and Rudin, chances are she’ll be taking “Cleopatra” to another studio and never again want to hear about “Salt 2.”
“Amazing Spider-Man 2” fared considerably better at the box office than its predecessor, but it was far from the hit Pascal anticipated it to be. Even so, she greenlighted an entire spin-off universe, pushing the release of the third film back and planning to have “Sinister Six” come out instead.
Pascal also wanted the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” franchise to complete, because the first film had been a critical and commercial hit, and she was determined to do her best to bring everyone together again for part 2 and 3, “The Girl Who Played With Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.”
Yes, there still are fans who hope to see them made, even though the original came out in 2011.