The Interview is filled with things that might offend North Korea, but much of the attention has been rightly paid to the scene in which Kim Jong-un’s head is blown up. For context, The Interview is about a pop journalist (James Franco) and his producer (Seth Rogen), who are brought to North Korea by Kim for an interview. After some bumbling with an assassination attempt, Franco and Rogen’s characters’ plan is to instead embarrass Kim by forgoing the preapproved questions that his people wrote, instead asking seriously challenging ones. After this also backfires, Franco starts asking about Kim’s relationship with his father and singing Katy Perry’s “Firework,†which was previously established as a song both Kim and Franco’s characters love. Kim starts to cry and is embarrassed. After, Rogen and Franco try to escape by way of a tank. Kim Jong-un tries to stop them in a helicopter. Rogen and Franco fire a missile at the helicopter. You can watch what happens next on Defamer.
We’ve since learned through the Sony Leak that this scene was hotly debated at Sony, with different executives debating how much to actually show. Members of the Vulture staff who have seen the film say this version actually looks less graphic than the one we saw at a recent screening.Â