To no surprise to anyone, officials in North Korea aren’t too happy about the upcoming comedy, The Interview, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, in which the duo play journalists who set out to assassinate real-life dictator Kim Jong Un. Now, the movie studio—which is owned by Japan’s Sony Corp.—is making some changes.
They’ve already pushed the release date back, and The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that they are re-editing at least two aspects of the film. Producers are digitally altering the buttons worn by military officials depicting the late dictator Kim Jong Il (which is evidently blasphemous in the country), and are removing a scene “in which the face of Kim Jong Un is melted off graphically in slow motion.” The move comes after the trailer received some not-so-positive feedback from leaders in the reclusive nation. Evidently, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry thought a comedy about killing its sitting leader was in poor taste, calling the movie an “act of war that we will never tolerate,” threatening “merciless” retribution upon its release …
