The Interview heading to New York theatre

A theatre company in New York City is to stage a live reading of Seth Rogen’s controversial movie The Interview after studio bosses scrapped its cinema release. Executives at Sony Pictures axed The Interview’s release after cyber criminals reportedly made threats against cinemas planning to show the movie, prompting a number of U.S. chains to drop it from their schedule.
The move came after hackers, believed to be linked to the North Korean regime, broke into the company’s databases and began leaking confidential information seemingly in retaliation to the movie’s plot, which features the assassination of the country’s leader Kim Jong-un.
It has now emerged that a theatre company in New York City plans to stage a live reading of The Interview as part of a free speech protest. The film’s script will be performed at the Treehouse Theater and will feature a cast including members of comedy troupe the Upright Citizens Brigade on 27 December (14).
A statement released by the Treehouse Theater company reads, “In the wake of recent events surrounding the controversial film The Interview, the feeling that a threat to free speech has been imposed is inescapable and terrifying. In response to this, three comedians have acquired a draft of the script for the banned film and are producing a live-read at the Treehouse Theater… This is an opportunity for people to come together in the name of free speech, in defiance of all who have threatened it. The script is close to the final version, and the performers are top notch. As the event is as much a political statement as a theatrical event, the show will be free. Come out and be part of something special.”
The news comes after the Secret Cinema group staged a number of ‘protest screenings’ to demonstrate outrage over The Interview’s cancellation. The secret screenings in London, Los Angeles, Rome in Italy, and San Francisco, California were rumoured to be of The Interview itself, but they turned out to be showing Charlie Chaplin’s controversial movie The Great Dictator, featuring the iconic actor as a tyrant loosely based on Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Proceeds from the screenings were handed to global free speech charity Article 19.