Sony Hack Scuttled Scorsese’s Angelina Jolie ‘Cleopatra’ Film
WHO:
Coming Soon - Martin Scorsese was attached to the planned *Cleopatra* movie, which was to star Angelina Jolie.
Deadline - Martin Scorsese, described as an Oscar-winning director, discussed the effects of the Sony hack on his planned *Cleopatra* feature.
Deadline - Seth Rogen’s 2014 film *The Interview* was identified as the subject of the North Korean government’s response.
Reddit Movies - A post about Scorsese nearly directing Jolie’s *Cleopatra* was submitted by Reddit user /u/MarvelsGrantMan136.
WHAT:
Variety - Scorsese described the planned *Cleopatra* movie as “gonna be really wild.”
Coming Soon - Scorsese’s planned *Cleopatra* movie never entered production.
Coming Soon - The article’s headline says Scorsese blamed Seth Rogen for the movie’s cancellation.
Reddit Movies - The post says Scorsese nearly directed Jolie’s *Cleopatra* before the Sony hack derailed the project.
Deadline - Scorsese said the hack “ruined everything” for his planned *Cleopatra* feature.
Deadline - Scorsese said the hack was a response to *The Interview*.
WHEN:
Variety - The Sony emails were hacked in November 2014.
Deadline - *The Interview* was released in 2014.
Deadline - The article describes the Sony hack’s fallout as continuing “more than a decade” after the attack.
WHY:
Deadline - The article attributes the Sony hack to a North Korean state-sponsored digital attack responding to Seth Rogen’s film *The Interview*.
Deadline - The headline quotes Scorsese saying, “Kim Jong Un Doesn’t Have A Sense Of Humor.”
HOW:
Deadline - The attack was carried out digitally and was described as wide-reaching.
(UPDATED October 31, 2026 02:00 UTC)
Martin Scorsese says the Sony hack ruined his planned Cleopatra film starring Angelina Jolie. He linked the wide-reaching attack to North Korea’s response to Seth Rogen’s The Interview. The project never entered production, despite Scorsese describing it as “really wild.”
--
(UPDATED October 30, 2026 23:58 UTC)
Martin Scorsese says the Sony hack derailed his planned Cleopatra film starring Angelina Jolie. He called the attack a response to Seth Rogen’s comedy The Interview. The wide-reaching digital breach, attributed to North Korea, “ruined everything,” Scorsese said.