Former Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton says he regrets making Seth Rogen’s 2014 comedy-action flick “The Interview” – a decision even former President Barack Obama told him was a mistake.
“I considered myself a cool-headed executive until I made a choice that severely damaged my company and colleagues — all because I wanted to fit into Hollywood’s creative community — unleashing one of the worst cyberattacks in corporate history,” Lynton explained in an excerpt from his new memoir “From Mistakes to Meaning: Owning Your Past So It Doesn’t Own You” that was published in the Wall Street Journal.
“It exposed the confidential emails of insiders and put my own family at risk,” Lynton continued.
In the passage, Lynton reflects on the day he found out North Korea launched a cyberattack on the studio’s IT systems in response to the film, which centered on a farcical plan to assassinate North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un. Lynton recalls seeing some of the most established and reserved professional in information technology “flustered” for the very first time.
“They looked scared and confused,” Lynton explained, then breaking down the terrible news his team shared with him next.
“The head of IT reported that 70% of Sony’s servers were irreparably damaged. Sony could not make, edit or release movies, use its email or access its financial records or production systems,” Lynton said. “Over the next few days and weeks the situation only worsened as the hackers released stolen emails that revealed terrible judgment, confidential scripts and personal information—including my family’s.”
Not only were the systems compromised, journalists were also invited to a “mysterious website” that suddenly appeared and included tens of thousands of leaked emails. Some featured employment contracts, employee health records, Social Security numbers, details about upcoming movies like “The Karate Kid” and the script of the new James Bond movie.
“As part of the leaked documents, my daughters’ health records flashed across the internet,” Lynton added.
Eight months after the attack, Lynton shared that he chatted with Obama about the situation, during which the president questioned why he greenlit the film in the first place.
“What were you thinking when you made killing the leader of a hostile foreign nation a plot point? Of course that was a mistake,” Lynton recalled of the conversation.
As he closed out his thoughts, he shared that many of his reasons for moving forward with the film were tied to his desire to be welcomed into Hollywood cool crowds.
“Just for a moment, I wanted to join the badass gang that made subversive movies. For a moment, I wanted to hang — as an equal — with the actors. I had grown tired of playing the responsible adult, of watching the party from the outside while I played Risk….The party got out of hand, and the company, its employees, my family and I all paid dearly,” Lynton says.
“Just for a moment, I wanted to join the badass gang that made subversive movies. For a moment, I wanted to hang — as an equal — with the actors,” Lynton said. “I had grown tired of playing the responsible adult, of watching the party from the outside while I played Risk….The party got out of hand, and the company, its employees, my family and I all paid dearly.
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