Last year, the social media was flooded with campaigns for the Seth Rogen-James Franco movie, The Interview. The movie by Sony received a number of trending news attributed to the mystery and scandal the movie itself carries. The movie revolves around a scheme to assassinate the North Korean Leader, Kim Jong Un.
One of the news that came up when the movie was first introduced was that the film which was supposed to be shown on Christmas Day was cancelled due to its 9/11 style terrorism threats. Movie theaters which attempted to show the movie were also caught in the issue.
Another issue that was attached to the movie was the Sony Hacking Incident. The company claimed that their system was hacked by the North Koreans in response to the attempted showing of the said movie. The hackers threatened to expose personal information and embarrassing emails about the actors involved in the movie. The hacking started November 22 when the computers of Sony were hacked by showing images of skulls with a message threatening to uncover secrets. Hackers also threatened the movie theaters attempting to show the movie. A group name Guardians of Peace claimed the said act of hacking.
With all these issues backing up the controversial movie, it is no surprise that at the 52nd Annual ICG Publicists Luncheon the publicist behind the movie received the Maxwell Weinberg Publicist Showmanship Awards for best motion picture publicity campaign. Sony's VP for Motion Pictures, Andre Caraco was the one who received the award and he said that it would take a unique and bizarre campaign to promote the movie, The Interview.
In spite of the scandals and the struggles they had faced in manually promoting the movie, they still reaped their rewards. According to Hollywood Reporter, Caraco said, "In the world of silver linings there is no greater publicity opportunity than having the president of the United States come out and say he wants the American people to see your movie. "
So it's a special thank you to the US President Obama and North Korean Leader Kim Jung Un for the success of the movie.
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