Friday, 12 December 2014

2 Sony Execs' Entire Email Boxes Got Leaked By Hackers And Now All Hell Is Breaking Loose

Late Tuesday, Sony president Steven Mosko and co-chairman Amy Pascal's entire email inboxes were leaked online in the latest cyber attack against the studio.

Links to the sites where the mailboxes were made available were posted in a message claiming to again be from the mysterious "Guardians of Peace" (GOP) group, who have also taken credit for the previous attacks over the past two weeks.

According to The Wrap, "The Microsoft Outlook mailboxes are massive in size, each coming in at multiple gigabytes and purportedly containing thousands of email exchanges, both business-related and personal, as well as contact information for executives at other companies." 

Since the mailboxes were released, people have been sifting through them to find dirt on Sony's business dealings and trade secrets.

With new emails being made public, a few bombshells have been revealed:
1. The email addresses and contact info for every A-lister in front of and behind the camera who has ever worked with Sony are now public.

Everyone from "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan to actor/comedian Joel McHale may want to change their email addresses.


2. Sony lost the Steve Jobs movie to Universal after an explosive back-and-forth email chain with mega-producer Scott Rudin, who apparently brought "Jobs" to the studio.

Pascal begged Rudin to let Sony have another chance with the film, but it was too late.

Rudin wrote to her in emails obtained by Gawker: "You've behaved abominably and it will be a very, very long time before I forget what you did to this movie and what you've put all of us through. ... You've destroyed your relationships with half the town over how you've behaved on this movie. If you don't think it's true, wait and see."

Pascal replied, simply, "Get rid of him," forwarding Rudin's strongly-worded emails to a colleague. 


3. The whole "Jobs" saga started with a fight over Angelina Jolie, who wanted David Fincher to direct her version of "Cleopatra" at Sony, but instead the studio put the "Social Network" director on the Steve Jobs movie. Scott Rudin ends up calling Angelina Jolie a "spoiled brat" with "a rampaging spoiled ego."

Rudin and Pascal started fighting back in February over Angelina Jolie, who objected to David Fincher directing "Jobs" instead of her version of "Cleopatra." In the leaked emails, Rudin gets upset with Pascal for not telling Jolie that Fincher won't have time to direct the actress' movie.

"You're involving yourself in this massive and pointless drama that is beneath you. You are entitled to say no," Rudin emailed Pascal.

After months more of back-and-forth emails, Rudin tells Pascal to "Shut it down," "it" presumably being Jolie. It's a request he repeated again later on in the email chain: "YOU BETTER SHUT ANGIE DOWN BEFORE SHE MAKES IT VERY HARD FOR DAVID TO DO JOBS."

Rudin goes on to blast Jolie (via Gawker):

I'm not destroying my career over a minimally talented spoiled brat who thought nothing of shoving this off her plate for eighteen months so she could go direct a movie. I have no desire to be making a movie with her, or anybody, that she runs and that we don't. She's a camp event and a celebrity and that's all and the last thing anybody needs is to make a giant bomb with her that any fool could see coming. We will end up being the laughing stock of our industry and we will deserve it, which is so clearly where this is headed that I cannot believe we are still wasting our time with it.

Essentially, these leaked emails are going to make it hard for Rudin or Sony to ever work with Jolie again, considering she now knows what the two think of her.


4. Amy Pascal found out that David Fincher ditched "Jobs" through a public industry email newsletter.

Pascal forwarded an email with headlines about "Girls" actor Adam Driver, who is cast in "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens," and another about Fincher reportedly being out of the Steve Jobs movie that was originally supposed to film under Sony Pictures. The body of the email contained a simple "WTF."
Fincher’s response is golden:

“Adam Driver is a terrible idea, I’m with you …”

Pascal wasn’t amused, replying in all caps, “I MEANT THE ONE ABOUT US BUTTING HEADS AND YOU NOT DIRECTING JOBS.”

Fincher kept on the defense, calling the news “bulls—.”

The report ended up being true. Danny Boyle is now set to direct the Steve Jobs movie for Universal Pictures. 


5. Disney tried to get Spider-Man in "Captain America 3."

According to the Wall Street Journal, among the emails is an exchange between Sony and Marvel over the use of Spider-Man in Disney's upcoming "Captain America 3" due in theaters May 6, 2016. 

WSJ reports Pascal told a business partner in an email that Marvel wanted to include Spidey in "Captain America: Civil War." 


6. After Sony's "Community" was canceled, star Joel McHale asked for a discount on a Sony TV.

McHale sent an email to Steven Mosko's assistant asking for a discount on an $8,000 Sony TV. The email reads: 

Hello Fayanne,
It's Joel McHale. You might remember me from such canceled Sony tv shows as—Community. Sad. Very sad. 

So when I was talking to Steve about the show ending last Friday, I asked about a discount on a Sony tv. He said of course. He's the greatest as you know. I didn't want to bother him with the specific details of the screen I want so I thought I would bother you. I hope that is it [sic] cool. 

It's below. You can check with Steve obviously if this all sounds strange. 
I'm not sure how this all works but I'm happy to send a credit card number wherever necessary. 

Thanks Fayanne. I'm very much going to miss working at Sony.


7. Leonardo DiCaprio was up for a role in 1997's "Boogie Nights."

While trying to convince DiCaprio to consider the role of Steve Jobs, powerhouse agent Robert Newman wrote to the actor:

I remember speaking with you years ago about 'boogie nights', and all you could have done with that wonderful part, and I truly believe this is an opportunity we will look back on with regret if we don't make happen.



8. Sony exec Clint Culpepper called out Kevin Hart for asking for money to promote his movies on social media.

Hart asked for additional funds from Sony to write a Tweet promoting his film (possibly "Think Like a Man Too"), in addition to the $3 million paycheck he got for the movie.

In an email exchange between Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal, studio exec Clint Culpepper, and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton, Culpepper writes, "I’m not saying he’s a whore, but he’s a whore."

Culpepper continued:

It's not as if we paid him 3M and 4M respectively for his last 2 films thinking he might be nominated. We paid for his ability to open a film which included his social media savvy. I feel like this is something that should be negotiated going into the film as opposed to after the fact. It feels tantamount to buying a car and then upon picking it up being told that the engine will cost extra.


. The new "Bond" movie cost over $300 million to make and is way over-budget.
  The budget of the new Bond movie, "Spectre," has been revealed as emails from the massive Sony hack continue to leak online. The flick is expected to cost over $300 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made.

Via CNNMoney:
MGM president Jonathan Glickman sent emails in early November explaining how the studio is scrambling to cut costs.

He says the current budget "sits in the mid $300Ms," but the studio has to drastically cut back to $250 million. And the shooting period already costs $50 million more than the previous film, "Skyfall."


10. Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin exchanged racist remarks regarding President Obama.

In a leaked email exchange, Pascal asks Rudin what she should talk about with Obama at an event organized by DreamWorks Animation head and Democratic donor, Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Pascal said: "Should I ask him if he liked DJANGO?" to which Rudin replied: "12 YEARS," likely in reference to the movie "12 Years A Slave." Pascal then said: "Or the butler. Or think like a man? [sic]" referring to other recent movies featuring black men.

Both Pascal and Rudin have since publicly apologized.


No comments:

Post a Comment