Hosted by Harry Knowles, the uncut ButtNumbAThon 16 Q&A with Seth Rogen and Evan D Goldberg after the surprise screening of The Interview, just days before the movie was pulled from a planned...
Hosted by Harry Knowles, the uncut ButtNumbAThon 16 Q&A with Seth Rogen and Evan D Goldberg after the surprise screening of The Interview, just days before the movie was pulled from a planned wide release.
Warning: This Q&A includes heavy spoilers for The Interview and This is the End.
- This Q&A was excerpted in Electric Shadow 19: Ignite the Light
- If you subscribe to the Electric Shadow Channel feed, it includes all Screen Time extended interviews as well as Electric Shadow-related extras and deleted bits.
- Butt Numb A Thon is a 24-hour movie marathon programmed in secret every year by Ain't It Cool News founder (and friend of the show) Harry Knowles.
Timeline
- Sunday, 14 December: the Sony hackers released more data, promising a "Merry Christmas"
- Monday, 15 December: Rogen goes on Stern, Gawker reaches a new low, posting a clip from the very end of the movie that you should not seek out for the sake of not spoiling the movie
- Tuesday, 16 December: Carmike Cinemas drops The Interview, and the New York premiere is cancelled
- Wednesday, 17 December: four promo screenings are cancelled by the respective theater chains, followed by the U.S.'s five major chains canceling all bookings of The Interview, citing safety concerns on what, for them, is "the Super Bowl of movie holidays". 2.5 hours later, Sony canceled the entire release. The rest of Hollywood wasn't thrilled with this. A couple hours after that, Aaron Sorkin called Christina and other journalists "terrorists" in line with whoever was behind the hacks. Various theaters planned screenings of Team America: World Police. Sony went on the record saying they had "no further plans" to release The Interview, on VOD or otherwise.
- Thursday, 18 December: Paramount Pictures cancels all screenings of ten-year-old satire Team America nationwide.
- Friday, 19 December: The FBI state that North Korea is in some way behind the hack, with no further substantiation. IT professionals and "tech" types are widely undeterred by the assumption the hack was somehow a result of Sony having a disgruntled former IT worker. President Obama labels the choice to cancel The Interview's release "a mistake" in his final press conference of the year. The Interview promo merchandise starts going for insane premiums on eBay. The question of whether or how Sony could have released The Interview becomes the new hot topic of conversation.
- Saturday, 20 December: Sony pulls all social media and digital advertising for The Interview from the internet, as ordered by their hackers.
- Monday, 22 December: North Korea refuses to participate in U.N. Security Council deliberations regarding their human rights record.
- Tuesday, 23 December: Just as this episode was set to post, independent theaters including Austin's Alamo Drafthouse announce that Sony is, in fact, allowing them to screen The Interview on Christmas Day.
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