Kind of. Rogen and his creative partner Evan Goldberg have finally gotten their pilot order from AMC for an adaptation of Preacher, a 1990s comic about a Texan preacher who is possessed by a heaven-baby and goes looking for God with his ex-girlfriend and a drunk vampire. It’s an interesting comic book, to say the least. Rogen and Goldberg have been trying to get Preacher made for a while now, and though they haven’t gotten a full series order, just getting the pilot made feels like an accomplishment. Rogen and Goldberg will co-direct the pilot but the showrunner will be Breaking Bad writer/producer Sam Catlin.
Rogen and Goldberg co-directed the very good This is the End and their follow-up, The Interview, is due later this month. They’re a really solid team, not only proving to be competent directors—the action sequences in This is the End are promising for Preacher—but they’re very successful producers, too. They’ve figured out how to get movies made without it costing an arm and a leg: their average feature budget is $50 million, and they consistently earn $100+ million. It’s no wonder Sony is so big on them and that AMC is willing to roll the dice, too. Doesn’t hurt that the last time AMC went after a gory comic book property it turned into one of the biggest TV shows of all time.
Last week Sony Studios got hacked by a group calling themselves the “Guardians of Peace” (or #GOP, which makes it seem like the Republican Party attacked Sony for some bizarre reason) and it brought the company to a standstill. They’re still recovering, and over the last several days a wave of information has leaked, from unreleased feature films like Annie to executive salaries. Also released were Seth Rogen’s and James Franco’s salaries for The Interview, and some of their more creative budget line items, like a table of coke, weed, and panties—I’m assuming that’s a prop for the movie.
The Interview has been controversial for its comedic depiction of an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-un, and ever since Sony confirmed the hack last week people have wondered if North Korea was involved in some way. Initially it seemed like an inside job—Sony has been laying off employees steadily while execs continue to make multi-million dollar salaries—but yesterday it was reported that North Korea might actually be involved. It will be very interesting to see how this shakes out and if it changes anything about what movies studios choose to make. For now, I just hope The Interview is worth all the fuss.
Update--North Korea says it's not them, so you know. Who knows.
