Hollywood Secretly Loves Obama Rebuke of Sony

HOLLYWOOD’S FICKLE FRIEND-For most of the past decade, Hollywood has loved Barack Obama, opening its hearts, homes and wallets to him since his days as a candidate for the Senate from Illinois. And Obama has loved Hollywood back — not so much. No Lincoln Bedroom sleepovers, no late-night dinners, and limited grip-and-grin time for even the biggest donors. 

Now Obama has delivered perhaps his sharpest rebuke ever to a Hollywood player, with his blunt declaration Friday that Sony Pictures Entertainment “made a mistake” in withdrawing release of “The Interview,” its satire about an assassination plot against Kim Jong Un, in response to threats from computer hackers linked to North Korea. 

“Obama gives Sony move a poor review,” was the Los Angeles Times’ all-politics-is-local angle headline on its lead story on Saturday, subordinating to the inside pages any mention of the president’s vow that the government of the United States “will respond proportionally” against the Pyongyang regime. But such is the widespread anger in Hollywood at Sony’s handling of the film and the ensuing controversy that the president’s rebuke has prompted not so much disappointment as broad praise and support among industry figures. 

A survey of several longtime industry insiders — all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of alienating one side or another — suggests that many of Hollywood’s big players are so irked at Sony that they loved Obama’s remarks. 

“The universal buzz is that there’s no question that Obama used this moment to stick it back at Amy Pascal and Sony for the unappreciated comments on whether he liked ‘Django’ or ‘The Butler,’” one veteran producer told me, referring to a hacked exchange of emails between the Sony studio co-chief and veteran producer Scott Rudin in which they cracked racially insensitive jokes about the president’s taste in films. “It’s an accepted part of the buzz at the moment — and by the way, he’s totally in the right to do it.” (Read the rest … including George Clooney’s comments … here.) 

-cw

 

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 12 Issue 103

Pub: Dec 23, 2014