JamieMcCarthy/WireimageProducers have scrapped plans to make a film that features Steve Carell and is set in North Korea, marking another Hollywood casualty of a Sony Pictures hacking scandal and threat that has spurred the cancellation of the release of The Interview, a comedy that depicts the killing of the totalitarian country's leader.
In January 2013, Deadline reported that Gore Verbinski, known for his work on Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lone Ranger, was working on a "dark comedic film" set in the state and based on Guy Delisle's 2006 graphic novel Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea. The writer and cartoonist based the story on his own experience working in a French animation company in the country for two months.
Carell's casting in the movie, now dubbed a "paranoid thriller," was confirmed in October. Deadline said on Wednesday that studio New Regency has scrapped the project. A source confirmed to E! News that the film would not be moving forward.
In November, unidentified hackers started to leak private information, including emails of executives and actors, as well as new movies they had stolen from the servers of Sony Pictures, which is unaffiliated with the scrapped Carell film.
Earlier this week, they issued a threat that cited 9/11 and warned people to stay away from theaters showing The Interview, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and depicts a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
On Wednesday, five major theater chains canceled their Christmas Day screenings and Sony then announced the movie would not be released. Hours later, U.S. officials told several media outlets that they believe North Korea was involved in the cyber-attack. The country has denied it.
Carell had said on Twitter on Wednesday that it was a "sad day for creative expression," adding, "#feareatsthesoul." Scores of other celebs, such as Judd Apatow, who directed him in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Ben Stiller and Patton Oswalt have also denounced the decisions by the theaters and Sony not to screen The Interview.
Really hard to believe this is the response to a threat to freedom of expression here in America.
#TheInterview
? Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) December 18, 2014All joking aside, we just gave a comfy foothold to censorship & it doesn't get any better from this point on. #TheInterview
? Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) December 18, 2014We also don't know that it isn't a disgruntled employee or a hacker. Do we think North Korea has troops on the ground in the US? Ridiculous
? Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) December 17, 2014—Reporting by Noelia Murphy-Devaney