Steve Carell and Gore Verbinski’s North Korea thriller cancelled by studio

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

In the wake of the hacker threats surrounding the release of Sony’s THE INTERVIEW, unrelated film projects are feeling the impact. The recently announced collaboration between director Gore Verbinski and actor Steve Carell has been cancelled by New Regency.

While still in the development stages, the thriller was scripted by Steve Conrad and was set within North Korea. Rather than risk anything similar to the situation with THE INTERVIEW, development has been halted. There does not seem to be any direct correlation between the situation happening with Sony or the Verbinski film, but clearly Hollywood has been rattled by the threats of terror looming around the Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy.

I promise not to get on my soapbox, but clearly there are artistic issues at work here if unsubstantiated threats can undermine the release of a creative work of fiction. I just hope we don’t see anything further happen to jeopardize freedom of expression. Gore Verbinski‘s other projects in development do not seem to be affected by this cancellation.

More as it develops.