‘The Interview’: “It has been Ok. No sense censor “- HOME

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Spectators at a theater in Atlanta. / Atlas / WireImage

Viewers that on Christmas Eve waited in Los Angeles in front of one of the 300 independent theaters across America who have been encouraged to show Interview were rewarded. At the start of the first screening, it after midnight, Seth Rogen, co-star and co-director of the tape that has angered North Korea appeared to thank the public.

“If it were not for people like that you literally would not have happened “, held Rogen, beer in hand and accompanied by Evan Goldberg, who co-directed the film about two journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Last week, the threat of North Korea led to the producer, Sony, announcing that it was withdrawing the tape. After that even President Barack Obama criticized the decision by Sony, the film became a symbol of freedom of expression. And it led to an unlikely alliance between a powerful producer, digital platforms and independent cinemas.

First there were small rooms that Sony managed to accept a “limited release”. The sign “Sold” hung in many of the sessions before the opening

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Evan Goldberg (left), co-director of ‘The Interview’ and Seth Rogen co-star and co-director, before one of the screenings of the film in a room in Los Angeles. / justin baker

New Yorkers could see yesterday Interview three small independent cinemas in the neighborhoods of Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. The morning session on Christmas Day in the room located a couple of blocks from Union Square started with tickets to sell.

“It’s been OK, entertaining” noted halfheartedly one of the spectators he went to the cinema expecting at least laugh. The general view is that Kim Jon A North Korean dictator, does not leave too badly. “Bad or good, even if passed, is entertainment and not censor it made sense,” said another attendee. Removing the frenzy generated, some admitted that perhaps had not been interested in going to see it so soon.

There was no police presence at the doors of theaters in the morning session. Interview turned out to be the film that is: a satire to take out. “It’s what we expected, a comedy of Franco and Rogen” commented two spectators of Williamsburg Cinemas. Passes for Cinema Village were exhausted for afternoon sessions, as in Brooklyn, but had tickets for the night.

Some who chose to go to the movies this day of family celebration did not the film itself but to defend freedom of expression. “Although it is typical defending the right of people to express themselves freely, remains an opportunity for all, as a country, say that we will not tolerate free speech of people is threatened,” he told public radio NPR Josh Levin, owner of West End Cinema, a separate cinema Washington. Levin acquired a although it is a commercial film away from what is usually programmed copy.

The defense of freedom of expression led digital payment platforms such as Google, YouTube Movies and start Microsoft Xbox surprise distribute the film a day before its theatrical release, multiplying your potential audience. But it remains to be seen whether the distribution online offset the loss of revenue to suspend the release scheduled in 3,000 theaters.

“We could not allow a handful of people determine limits freedom of expression in another country, “he said in a statement David Drummond, Google legally responsible. “Regardless of how silly it may be content.”