The Interview Movie Poster: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Poster for the 2014 action-comedy film The Interview. Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen co-directed this Sony Pictures Entertainment film starring James Franco and Rogen. The poster, designed to mimic Communist propaganda posters, features images of Rogen and Franco alongside images of missiles, soldiers, and tanks, with the film's title in English and Korean. The film follows the story of Dave Skylark, host of the celebrity tabloid show, “Skylark Tonight” and his producer Aaron Rapoport. Skylark dreams of becoming a respected journalist, and is ecstatic when he learns the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is an avid fan of his show. Skylark and Rapaport view this interview with Jong-un as their once in a lifetime opportunity to legitimize their careers and eagerly accept the invitation to North Korea. However, their journey to Pyongyang takes an unexpected turn when en route to Pyongyang, the C.I.A. recruits them to assassinate Jong-un.

This film is notable for its comedic commentary on the contemporary political climate between North Korea and the United States of America. The tense diplomatic relationship dates back to the Korean War and subsequent decades of debate over nuclear weapons. The North Korean government objected to the raunchy, satirical nature of The Interview and its depiction of the King Jong-il regime. On June 25, 2014, the Korean Central News Agency condemned the film as a “blatant act of terrorism and war and will absolutely not be tolerated.” Shortly after the film’s release, Sony suffered a massive hack of its computer systems, in which confidential data was publicly released. The F.B.I. conducted an extensive investigation and concluded the breach was sponsored by North Korea in retaliation for the release of The Interview, but North Korea denied the allegations.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 2014
• Object Name: poster
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: printed (overall production method/technique)
• Measurements: overall: 40 in x 27 in; 101.6 cm x 68.58 cm
• referenced: North Korea
• associated subject: Entertainment, Film
• associated subject: Motion Pictures
• associated subject: Communism
• associated subject: News Media
• ID Number: 2018.0096.01
• accession number: 2018.0096
• catalog number: 2018.0096.01
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.