North Korea got itself all worked up over a nonexistent screening of The Interview
Furthering suspicions that The Interview is the only movie the North Korean government has ever heard of—aside from the biggest blockbuster of 2012, 2013, and 2014, Kim Jong-Un, Cool Guy With Great Haircut, Kill American Spy With One Punch—the country has accused the 65th Berlin International Film Festival of “instigating terrorism” by screening the film. It did so in the form of a statement which reads, in part:
“The screening of the movie that hurts the dignity of the supreme leadership of North Korea and openly agitates state-sponsored terrorism has nothing to do with the ‘freedom of expression’ touted by Germany….Those who attempt at terrorist acts and commit politically-motivated provocations and those who join them in violation of the sovereignty and dignity of North Korea will never be able to escape merciless punishment.”
The problem (okay, one problem) with North Korea’s statement is that there was no screening of The Interview planned for the 65th Berlinale, because it is a very fancy film festival and The Interview is one hour and 52 minutes of dick and poop jokes. According to Variety, festival head Dieter Kosslick visited the North Korean embassy in Berlin earier today to explain the mixup, which he believed resulted from the fact that The Interview opens in German theaters on February 5, the same day as the opening of the Berlinale.
A festival spokesperson tells Variety that the North Korean ambassador “understands” what Kosslick was trying to tell him; asked if this means the end of the conflict, the spokesperson replied, “I hope so.” Pre-production on North Korea’s number one film of 2015, Kim Jong-Un Giving Wedgie To Stinky Poop Heads Seth Rogen And James Franco, however, has yet to begin.