World War III, here we come.
In Seth Rogen and James Franco’s upcoming action comedy The Interview, the duo play a producer and host of a tabloid talk show respectively, who after landing an interview with Kim Jong-un, are tasked with killing the dictator for the CIA. The comedic cronies, who are known for their outlandish behavior (i.e. recreating Kanye’s “Bound 2” video) are no strangers to causing controversy for the sake of a few laughs. Well, North Korea is not laughing — quite the opposite in fact.
Reports that executive director of The Centre for North Korea-US Peace, Kim Myong-chol, responded hit the net last week via the UK Telegraph in which he condemned the film in behalf of his nation:
There is a special irony in this storyline as it shows the desperation of the US government and American society. A film about the assassination of a foreign leader mirrors what the US has done in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine. And let us not forget who killed [President John F.] Kennedy – Americans. In fact, President [Barack] Obama should be careful in case the US military wants to kill him as well.
Myong-chol went on to praise Britain’s “James Bond” films and to say that while offended, Kim Jong-Un will probably in fact watch the film. Seth Rogen responded to the statement via Twitter saying “Apparently Kim Jong Un plans on watching #TheInterview. I hope he likes it!!”
Now it seems over the course of a few days things have escalated a bit with a spokesperson from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry saying in a statement to Korea’s state run KCNA news agency that, “The act of making and screening such a movie that portrays an attack on our top leadership… is a most wanton act of terror and act of war, and is absolutely intolerable.” The unnamed official went on to promise a “resolute and merciless response” from North Korea if the US proceeds to screen the film.
Seth Rogen responded to North Korea’s threat in true troll fashion via Twitter saying, “People don’t usually wanna kill me for one of my movies until after they’ve paid 12 bucks for it. Hiyooooo!!!”
The film is set to release on October 14, and as of yet there has been no word of any plans to stop its release.
One has to wonder though, how would our government react if North Korea made a film depicting the assassination of our highest officials?
– Khari Clarke (@KINGCLARKEIII)
