The Sony Hack Will Define Hypocrisy Downwards
It was only a few months ago that everybody was livid when A-list celebs were hacked and naked selfies flooded the internet like Nigerian get-rich-quick emails used to. With the hack of Sony and the exposure of terabytes of confidential data, emails, and more, all we're interested in is just how awful Hollywood really is:
There is unapologetic prurience at the chance to get a real behind-the-scenes look at an industry long notorious for its wicked, backbiting, and hypocritical ways. Big-shot producer Scott Rudin tells Sony co-chair Amy Pascal he thinks Angelina Jolie is "a minimally talented spoiled brat"? A-List director David Fincher is as difficult as Hitler was anti-Semitic? Tell us more!
In a new column for Time, I argue that as hacks become more common and more public, expect people to become in general to become more forgiving:
Even a few decades ago, the release of nude photos was enough to cost Miss America her crown. However mortified they might be personally, none of the celebrities outed in the nude picture hack can claim much if any damage to their professional life. So it is with Hollywood hypocrisy and scandalous personal behavior, which has never been in short supply.
Short of revelations of serious crime—such as the rape allegations Bill Cosby is facing—the public will simply consume any behind-the-scenes drama as something akin to a bonus track on a DVD. If anything, expect seemingly unauthorized "hacks" to become strategically deployed to pique curiosity about projects. Certainly,The Interview is a more interesting movie when we know that studio executives wanted to tone it down.
And expect Hollywood players—phonies that they are—to be the most forgiving of all. Rudin and Pascal have already apologized for their "racially insensitive remarks" and Pascal has begun a ritualized apology tour by phoning the Rev. Al Sharpton and promising to go on the tax-avoiding MSNBC host's show. Pascal has even managed to air kiss Angelina Jolie, the object of withering scorn in one of the most widely discussed email exchanges with Rudin. Most important, though, Rudin and Pascal have reportedly also forgiven each other for their harsh comments. Because in Hollywood, after all, it's who you know that counts most of all.
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if you look at Angelina Jolie in the right light, it really does look like Jon Voight in drag
I’ve got a soft spot for Angelina Jolie – cuz she’s hot – in a ice bitch way.
Me too, but younger Angelina. Like, circa Mojave Moon. I absolutely believe the part about her being a spoiled brat though.
ACID BURN!!!
As terrible as Hackers is, it is a stupid sort of fun and has a very young Jolie, so I have a soft spot for it.
Never seen Hackers. Is she nude in that one too?
No. If you want young(er) nude Jolie, you’ll want to watch Gia. Not much of a movie, but lots of nudity.
Hackers is just dumb fun.
Actually, I do believe she has her top off in a swimming pool in Hackers.
Still, not much of a film. If you want to see her meet her 1st husband, there is that.
I don’t remember that, but it’s not exactly a movie for committing to memory, so you might be right. And now her first husband (Johnny Lee Miller) finally has a moderately successful show on TV. Took him long enough.
Angelina is a spoiled brat that I would love to punish.
I like Jolie. I think she’s gourgous and talented. She may well be a brat but I certainly wouldn’t take some Hollywood douchbags attempt to impress someone’s word for it. Not that I really give a shit anyways.
I’m sick of news media running ‘news’ on stolen privacy. I AM FUCKING SICK OF IT! I’m sick of brain vacuums on all the networks wanking on private conversations STOLEN from what should be private networks. We ALL email our closest friends and associates in extra-edgy ways often.
Here’s my view: North Korean hackers please steal the server accounts of the most private thoughts from those who actually produce and write the news and then host and act like a talking heads to the masses. People like CNN’s Berman and Michaela, Ashleigh Banfield, Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, or Fox’s Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Cavuto, or Don Imus among others… Filet them all.
NO ONE is free from edgy comments unless you are a fucking braindead clover with no thought aside from the Stop sign and the government or pastoral cock down your throat. We all know this type.
NO ONE is free from edgy comments unless you are a fucking braindead clover with no thought aside from the Stop sign and the government or pastoral cock down your throat.
Which is precisely why hacking the people you referenced wouldn’t really produce much.
Mobius comment, Bill. MOBIUS!
There was a moment recently where Sean Hannity started going stream of conciousness in the middle of a “when I was your age” rant and made his dad come of as a child abuser.
It’s a way to work faux outrage, scandal mongering, and sexy celebrities into their coverage while retaining the illusion of legitimate news. Of course they’re going to dry hump the story until it chafes so good.
It’s the fucking rank idea… let’s run with stolen private info. Let’s sell cars based on blithering pronouncements and judgments of people at their core and most secretive…. which will and might and can include ALL of us….
NO ONE is free from edgy comments unless you are a fucking braindead clover with no thought aside from the Stop sign and the government or pastoral cock down your throat.
-Ghandi, 1944
The Cyborg contains multitudes. He is a Whitman’s Sampler of historical figures.
Look, you know this and I know this, but the g.d. finger-wagging, race-mongering liberals who call Romney a serial rapist for saying “binders full of women” are trying to speech-police and thought-police us into the ground. (You knew that, too.)
So when the light shines on their own puny minds and they’re talking about cottonfields full of negroes, it’s useful for a few things.
Of course no one will take advantage of its greatest opportunity, namely to CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF. If Pascal and Rudin had just said “Yeah, so what?!?” and publicly stated they would not be kowtowing to Al and Jesse, THAT would have advanced civilization.
But since it’s up to you and me, who are victims but not players in this race-baiting charade, I’m calling Pascal out for her TOTAL phoniness and gutlessness. It’s my little way of advancing civilization, since she won’t utilize hers.
By the way, here’s another example of a WASTED opportunity to tell the race-mongers to fuck off:
http://bit.ly/1wpcIYT
It ended with the offender donating a bunch of money to some group called WNDB, or We Need Diverse Books, vomit.
Faceless Commenter: Indeed. People are way too afraid of just saying: “That’s not ‘racism,’ people. Calm the fuck down.”
Why would the norks want to bring down the left-wing media of the west?
-jcr
Because Sony made a movie about assassinating their Leader. It’s personal, not ideological.
” It was only a few months ago that everybody was livid when A-list celebs were hacked and naked selfies flooded the internet like Nigerian get-rich-quick emails used to.”
I remember the hacks and the leaks. “Livid” isn’t the word I would use to describe most of the reaction.
Well, there were definitely angry feminists making statements like “You are sexually assaulting Jennifer Lawrence by looking at her pictures!”
Of course, not long after, a much more serious case of (alleged) sexual assault kind of stole the spotlight.
Well, there were definitely angry feminists making statements like “You are sexually assaulting Jennifer Lawrence by looking at her pictures!”
In all fairness, I consider that closer to sexual assault than the obvious fantasy of nine frat brahs gang-raping a UVA freshmen on the shattered remains of a glass coffee table eerily placed in the ceremonial rape room .
In all fairness, I consider that closer to sexual assault than the obvious fantasy of nine frat brahs gang-raping a UVA freshmen on the shattered remains of a glass coffee table eerily placed in the ceremonial rape room .
Totally agree. The prequel series Nine Shades of Freshmen Cock Grey basically writes itself in the Rolling Stone story.
50 Shades of Fraternity Grey.
I know I’m too late to this, but I wanted to comment anyway. Looking at someone’s nude pictures that were acquired without their knowledge or consent is like peeping in a women’s restroom. It’s not as bad as sexual assault, but no one is going to defend you morally.
Yeah I think he meant “turgid”
98% of the American population couldn’t care less already. No one cares about Amy Pascal joking that Obama likes Kevin Hart movies. No one outside of the media and some really batshit progressive types cares or is offended.
This.
So, what’s the motive for the hacking?
Norks want to stop that Seth Rogen and James Franco movie “The Interview”
Norks want to stop that Seth Rogen and James Franco movie “The Interview”
Who doesn’t want to stop that smoking turd?
I keep praying that Franco and Rogan will be discovered raping veal calves, one day.
Hundreds of thousands watch the news… Thousands of vehicles are sold by the news…
Think.
98% of the American population couldn’t care less already. No one cares about Amy Pascal joking that Obama likes Kevin Hart movies.
Among that 2% who do care is Al Sharpton’s accountant.
This whole hacking thing reinforces two things we already knew:
-Hollywood types are generally angry, empty, soulless, angry, treacherous sociopaths
-if you’re a person of prominence, you never commit sensitive information (such as how you really feel about other prominent people in your industry) in an email.
I only hacked Sony to prove a point: that North Koreans are better off because they do not have email.
Kim Jong Number Un
Or, you know, computers, or food.
People say that North Korea has no food. I prefer to say we are gluten-free. #branding
This guy is brilliant.
BARACK OBAMA = KIM JONG UN
Prove me wrong!
I have a theory about you, HM. You have never used the search box on YouTube. You just type in URLs from memory.
Chuck Norris envies your ability.
It’s true. I’m an autistic savant and that is my one ability.
Also, you’re all just figments of my imagination.
(That last comment came out wrong, didn’t it? I meant it as a compliment. I apologize for the misunderstanding.)
I would be honored to be a figment of your imagination, HM. I would be living in a far classier universe. Respect.
Just had to make sure.
I’ve been around here long enough to know that upsetting HM is a sub-optimal life-decision.
Sincerely yours, in fear and respect.
(Also, I want to know what I am up to in your figmentary world,)
We’re all figments including you.
His dick has a Tumblr. Last post was two years ago.
Why did I click that?
Replace “Hollywood” in all portions of the article with “Culver City”
Oh, that’s geography.
From the article:
I LOLd. Also, I haz a sad.
+1
What I’d like to know is why Fincher’s movies have become boring in the extreme. Gone Girl? Who cares? A totally watchable movie, but…what the fuck was the point? It’s not like he pushed any boundaries or made it gorgeous to just watch like he did with his earlier movies. Remaking The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo*? He did nothing that wasn’t in the original, and he did it with Rooney Mara instead of Noomi Rapace, so…what the fuck was the point? Honestly, Fincher seems to have undergone a Cronenberg-like neutering; he suddenly just stopped making really fucked up movies (fucked up in great ways) and became standard. Utterly competent, but…boring. Panic Room to me signaled the begin of this for him.
* Stieg Larsson has always struck me as one of those weirdos who writes something about what he fantasizes about while trying to pretend he’s against it. Namely, beating and raping women.
become boring in the extreme
Alien 3?
That is some serious bullshit.
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl were both okay, but not great. However, Social Network was very good and Zodiac is an underrated masterpiece.
Fincher has always been up and down. He followed up Aliens 3 (terrible) with Seven (maybe his best movie.) After that his filmography goes like this: The Game (okay but filled with plot holes), Fight Club (I think it’s a bit overrated but it’s still a very good film), Panic Room (entertaining but nothing special), Zodiac (stupendous), Curious Case of Benjamin Button (meh), Social Network (great), Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (solid thriller), Gone Girl (solid thriller with a shitty ending).
He’s always been up and down, but two of his best movies are post Panic Room. And Zodiac is royally fucked up, so I don’t think the neutering occurred with Panic Room, if it ever occurred at all.
Also, even in some of these lesser films, Fincher’s direction is still top notch. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl are both wonderfully directed and beautiful to look at, even if substantively they aren’t as good as much of his other work.
Also: Don’t talk shit about latter day Cronenberg. I haven’t seen his most recent movies (and have heard they suck) but History of Violence and Eastern Promises are great. My favorite movie of his is still probably Dead Ringers, but he’s made a lot of good films, even recently.
You blithering nincompoop, Alien 3 is a damn fine addition to the Alien series. And the color palate is solid classic Fincher. I have not seen Zodiac so I can’t opine on that one; I should watch it. Social Network was good, but…why Fincher? Fincher is great at heads in boxes and brown/blue color palates; why is he directing movies about Mark Zuckerberg or remaking movies that were done very well the first time? And I actually like The Game a lot.
Fuck latter day Cronenberg. I want body mutations and evil fucked up gynecologists who make their own tools and Marilyn Chambers with a fang in her armpit or Christopher Walken yelling “the ice…is gonna break!” Not mutation-less stories about…relatively normal things.
Have you seen Videodrome? The Brood? Orgy of the Blood Parasites? eXistenZ? That’s what I want. And he doesn’t do that any more.
Zodiac was good.
Have I seen Videodrome and The Brood? What do I look like, a gaping vagina with bad taste in films?
Whether or not you personally would prefer early, cracked out Cronenberg is of no relevance when it comes to whether he’s still made some great films in the last decade. And he has.
Also (warning naked Viggo Mortenson, knife violence, and spoilers) you cannot tell me that Eastern Promises didn’t have some fucked up scenes.
There’s also the rape/sex scene on the stairs in History of Violence, if Cronenberg’s deeply disturbing thoughts on sex are more your speed.
What do I look like, a gaping vagina with bad taste in films?
I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that it may incriminate me. For being a dick.
I totally agree that A History of Violence and Eastern Promises are extremely solid films. But what I loved ever since I saw my first Cronenberg film in the 80s was the mutation/body dysmorphia theme that was so prevalent in all his films. I LOVE that shit. And it’s gone now. Yes, directors change, and I understand that. But the new Cronenberg isn’t the Cronenberg that I love.
As an aside, have you seen Nightbreed? Not the best film ever–but not bad–and Cronenberg actually plays the bad guy/murderer. OOPS SPOILER.
One of these days I’m going to work up the nerve to watch Naked Lunch on acid.
Do not do this until you suck pussy lips on acid… The vagina becomes a giant flower and it actually speaks and claws at your face until all the petals of the vagina flower actually visegrips your head right fucking into the deep well and then this shower of liquids leaves you choking and spitting like a true new born…
Its like a fucking reborn at say 38. Just use acid… and add a pussy face smash… then you have clean all your goddamn cum off everything everywhere.
I know you loved Cosmopolis. Admit it.
I think Seven is extremely overrated. It clearly wants to be a really deep film, but it’s not actually deep, it just seems deep.
It was not that great. Kevin Spacey made it better than it should have been, as usual.
Wow. Based on the two comments above this one, I must have wandered into a convention of people who are horribly wrong about movies.
I bet you liked Meet Joe Black too
I bet you liked Meet Joe Black too
Only the parts with Claire Forlani in them. Well, not even those, that was a terrible movie.
Don’t even look at them, Irish. They’re un-persons.
You guys should go back and rewatch Se7en. That is some seriously solid shit. There are a lot of things going on with that movie. Repeat viewings help.
Why would watching it again make it better? I’m so sick and tired of Freeman that I can’t enjoy anything with him in it anymore.
What’s so great about it?
Gone Girl is delightfully fucked up. How can you not laugh any time Pike is on screen?
I was going to admit that it’s not a film of much substance, but nah, it’s got something. It’s not his best work or anything, but everyone’s got to do some medium work every now and then.
What do you do after the people in your town just rioted, partially because they felt oppressed by cops?
Try to close your budget gap by increasing ticketing, of course!
Oh, Ferguson Police Department. You’re run by morons.
I didn’t know that Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, Justin Raimondo and Sheldon Richman run Sony.
They would make better movies
Thomas Dilorenzo: The Movie!
Already been made.
The Revenge of the Goldbugs?
All bitches should get naked for my enjoyment.
The Buttplug has spoken.
buttplugs can be quite challenging if you well, lick them… as I’m wont 2 do… never admit this on reason … NEVER.
But I do have a taste for ass… and does PB?
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