Michael Linton, the former CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, now wishes he had thought a little more carefully before greenlighting Seth Rogen’s dark comedy “The Interview,” about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Linton’s new memoir, “From Mistakes to Meaning: Owning Your Past, Not Owning You,” co-written with Joshua L. Steiner, was excerpted Thursday in the Wall St. Journal, and in a book to be published next week, the executive admits he may have made the decision too quickly.
But when Linton was informed on November 24, 2014 that all of Sony’s email systems were down, along with its production and financial IT systems, he never imagined that North Korea could be behind the massive technology meltdown that affected the studio. All he knew was that he, Rogen, and co-chairman Amy Pascal were passionately determined to make a smart comedy and planned to release it in theaters on Christmas.
The IT meltdown, which caused one of the biggest disruptions in Hollywood history, irreparably damaged 70% of Sony’s servers and exposed private communications and personal information of executives and talent.
“In the days and weeks that followed, the situation only worsened, as hackers released stolen emails that revealed damning convictions, secret scripts, and personal information, including that of my family,” Linton wrote in his memoir.
As a result of the email revelations, the studio lost relationships with key stars such as Will Smith, Adam Sandler and Angelina Jolie. Linton said he spoke to President Obama eight months after the hack, when it was clear that North Korea had hacked Sony. President Obama asked Linton, “What were you thinking when you planned to kill a hostile foreign leader? Of course it was a mistake.”
“Shortly after the hack, a mysterious website appeared urging journalists to type ‘Dead Sony’ into their internet browsers, where they were able to find tens of thousands of leaked emails. Emails in which studio executives criticized movie stars. Confidential. The hackers then began releasing employees’ health records and social security numbers. They even released secret scripts for upcoming movies, including The Best Kid. It’s the ultimate Hollywood blasphemy. As part of the leaked documents, my daughters’ health records were leaked onto the internet,” Linton wrote.
Sony ultimately canceled the theatrical release of The Interview after North Korea threatened theaters with violence, but it was shown in a small number of independent theaters. The film became the first major studio release to be premiered on the Internet.
Linton concludes that part of his motivation for greenlighting the film came from a desire to be accepted and “to be on par with the actors.”
“For just a moment, I wanted to join a group of villains making subversive films. For a moment, I wanted to be on equal footing with the actors. I was tired of playing the responsible adult, tired of watching from the outside at parties while playing risk…The parties got out of hand, and the company, my employees, my family, and I all paid dearly,” Linton says.
The former Sony president also said, “Two other factors complicated the situation. First, my co-chairman at Sony, Amy Pascal, and my friend Stacey Snyder, the chairman of Universal Studios, have had a 20-year rivalry. Second, Rogen had a strong desire to attract audiences and… So when either Stacey or Amy refused to greenlight a movie because it was too offensive, the other agreed to make it.And guess what?”It was inevitably a hit. ”
“Sony was in the difficult position of not being able to say no, and Rogen found himself in the enviable position of receiving approval for almost anything he chose to present,” added Linton, who greenlit the film shortly after a positive script reading.
Linton’s memoir, “From Mistakes to Meaning: Owning Your Past So It Doesn’t Own You,” will be published by Avid Reader Press on February 24th.
