Martin Scorsese‘s planned Cleopatra movie never entered production. The director has now connected the project’s collapse to the controversy surrounding Seth Rogen‘s The Interview, which featured Rogen and James Franco.
During a conversation with his daughter Francesca Scorsese for Tribeca’s Crafty interview series, the filmmaker recalled the planned movie and its progress. He then shared how close it came to moving forward. Martin Scorsese said, “We were going to do it. Eric Roth was ready on the script; everyone was ready. It was Angelina Jolie; we were going.”
He then jokingly blamed Rogen for Cleopatra’s failure. He told Francesca, “Tell Seth, because they ruined everything just because Kim Jong-un doesn’t have a sense; they have a problem, you know.” Francesca also expressed frustration that the film never happened. She responded, “I’m so mad about it.”
The bizarre chain of events behind Scorsese’s abandoned Hollywood epic
Scorsese’s comments refer to the fallout from The Interview, a 2014 comedy involving Seth Rogen and James Franco. The film follows two journalists who are recruited to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Its depiction of the leader angered North Korea and led to threats against Sony Pictures. The controversy intensified when a significant cyberattack hit the studio in November 2014.
This attack exposed private emails and company documents, and the FBI later attributed it to the North Korean government. Hackers also threatened theaters planning to screen The Interview, which prompted Sony to cancel its planned wide theatrical release. The studio eventually made the film available through other platforms.
Scorsese’s remarks connect the Sony controversy to the fate of his Cleopatra project. However, these comments do not establish that Seth Rogen directly caused the film to fall apart. Despite a prepared script and Angelina Jolie’s planned casting, Martin Scorsese’s version of the historical epic never entered production.