When the massive Sony hack went down last November, the Seth Rogen/James Franco The Interview was a major part of the story.
Now, with the release of all the leaked Sony emails on WikiLeaks, we’re learning that Justin Bieber might have been considered for a part in the film.
“We are out to Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun via Lia Vollack. Scooter said he’d like to get a sense of what the movie was so he could understand the context of a Dave Skylark interview,” reads an email from Sony exec Dwight Caines.
Here’s full email message via Wikileaks:
From: Caines, Dwight
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 6:02 AM
To: setharogen82@gmail.com; leonarddumpling@gmail.com; James Weaver (Jweaver30@gmail.com); Matt Lobov (mlabov@forefrontmedia.com)Cc: Caraco, Andre; Plishner, Elias; Liston, Marisa; McCotter, Rose; Zim, Jake
Subject: The Interview trailer launch follow upFollowing up on the meeting last week. We are out to Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun via Lia Vollack. Scooter said he’d like to get a sense of what the movie was so he could understand the context of a Dave Skylark interview. I think a watermarked, expiring link to the Cinemacon reel is a good asset to share for this. Let us know if you’d like to proceed.
The attached document has additional ideas from the team as well as an alt on the “Bieber hatchet burying” that doesn’t require his participation but still might need an okay from his camp. As before, none of the ideas have been vetted by legal or clearance group as we wanted your feedback first.
Congrats on the Neighbors weekend.
Attachments: Interview Trailer Launch Concepts_5 11 14.pdf (85178 Bytes)
In case you didn’t see the film, Dave Skylark is a hammy entertainment TV reporter played by Franco in the film. The release version of The Interview featured Skylark interviewing Eminem; it’s hard to say if a Franco/Bieber interview would have been in addition to or instead of Em’s cameo.
Worth noting: The email doesn’t specifically say Sony wanted Justin for the movie, just that they were reaching out to Scooter Braun (who does rep other singers). But given that the email refers to him as “Bieber’s manager,” it seems fair to wonder if Sony wanted him for The Interview.