Sony Hack Prompts Cancellation of New Steve Carell Thriller

The threats against Sony Pictures and its film The Interview are giving pause to filmmakers who want to set their films in North Korea.

New Regency films had planned to shoot a thriller set in North Korea written by Steve Conrad, directed by Gore Verbinski, and starring Steve Carell that was due to start filming in March 2015, but the terrorist threats targeting The Interview caused New Regency to back out of the project. One source told Deadline.com that transplanting the film to another location will not be considered; Fox already said it will not distribute the proposed film.

Verbinski will survive; he and Regency have a multiyear, multipicture deal, including A Cure For Wellness, Passengers, and a comedy written by Conrad.

The cyberterrorists targeting Sony threatened 9/11-style attacks on theaters showing The Interview. They had written:

We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places “The Interview” be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to. Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.) Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment. All the world will denounce the SONY.