December 11, 2014

"What should I ask the president at this stupid Jeffrey breakfast?"

Sony Pictures chair Amy Pascal emailed Scott Rudin before a some Jeffrey Katzenberg. (Katzenberg heads DreamWorks Animation, and Rudin is the producer behind "No Country for Old Men" and "Moneyball.") "Should I ask him if he liked DJANGO?” Rudin: “12 YEARS.”

Is there much to learn from these leaked Sony emails? I linked to Buzzfeed, which calls Pascal "a major Democratic donor": "she gave $5,000 to Obama’s re-election campaign and cut a $30,800 check to the Democratic National Committee."

Elsewhere on Buzzfeed, we learn that Rudin calls Angelina Jolie "a minimally talented spoiled brat."

Is there something perversely pleasurable about seeing that these Hollywood people hate each other? Or was that always the presumption, and learning the details only taints you?

34 comments:

damikesc said...

We learned that Sony CEO Kaz Hirai (odd that he went from working on Playstations to running Sony) tried to get "The Interview" toned down due to possible concerns about N Korea being upset.

Why a company would be worried that non-customers would be upset that they were portrayed in a way they didn't like it lost on me. They aren't going to pay for your movie anyways.

Bob Ellison said...

The general public really needs some context with these dollar figures.

$5k or $31k to someone who's worth many millions is not a big deal. It's like putting a dollar bill into the Salvation Army bucket.

Telling the dollar amount is not important unless it matters to the person involved. Say that Bill Gates gave five billion to some political party, and I'll be interested.

damikesc said...

Bob, I'd buy that...if the money went to both parties.

It never does.

Therefore, it isn't just a drop in the bucket to them. It is, I believe, the max they can individually donate.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Be sure to ask the black president about a movie with lots of blacks in it! White liberals are incredible clods.

MayBee said...

Why a company would be worried that non-customers would be upset that they were portrayed in a way they didn't like it lost on me. They aren't going to pay for your movie anyways.

So they don't do things like hack your website and your emails. Or launch nuclear bombs toward your country (Japan).

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

It's gossip. Not especially salacious so far, but many of us eat it up. It's always been so.

Known Unknown said...

Scott Rudin is a major league a-hole.

The film Swimming With Sharks was inspired by him.

MayBee said...

One thing it shows is how rich Hollywood liberals are kind of forced for business reasons to go to Obama fundraisers. ("this stupid Jeffrey breakfast)

traditionalguy said...

I think that was a fair question to ask Obama. How does he view the political aspects of recent Sony films?

The undertone that his answer would be BS is what makes it into their private joke. The make believe world thinks all make believe is interesting in a snarky way.

Bob Ellison said...

damikesc, there is no maximum that an individual can donate to a political cause.

This is a common misconception in the general public: that there is a max political donation.

Not true.

PB said...

If Republicans were caught in the same exchange the charges of "Rascist!" would be front-page banners across the country.

Bob Ellison said...

I gave $50 to a blogger recently. It was not tax-deductible.

I'm not trying to brag. It's just reality. Money goes around.

It seems that people think McCain-Feingold and similar laws (which come around about every 30 years) actually control the flow of money in politics.

Wake up!

Ann Althouse said...

It's kind of a relief to learn that the parties you don't get invited to are not enjoyed by the people who are stuck getting invited. "Stupid Jeffrey breakfast" — I've got to say I enjoyed that.

DKWalser said...

What's surprising is that they felt free to voice such opinions in the first place. I don't recall seeing anything remotely similar in my 2+ decades as a professional. I might think such things, but I'd never type it in an email or even say it out-loud. Nor would most of the people I've worked with.

JAORE said...

At a Federal agency I was, indirectly, connected with a manager was involuntarily relocated. Long story short she was absolutely the worst of all possible choices to be in charge of any program or any employees.

Her supervisors, from far away, came over to pick through the rubble. They were stunned to find evidence of what she actually thought of their abilities. They were horrified to find evidence of what she thought of them as individuals.

The Sony material is weak sauce. Happens everywhere that people/egos exist. But the Sony story is laid bare and involves (oh boy!) celebrities.

B said...

So why is it morally acceptable to look at these emails and not nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence? Why is this a leak while the nudes were a hack?

Laslo Spatula said...

"So why is it morally acceptable to look at these emails and not nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence? Why is this a leak while the nudes were a hack?"

Information is a 'leak'. Information you can masturbate to is a 'hack'.

I am Laslo.

Wilbur said...

I consider it a rebuttable presumption.

Hollywood does not taint me in any way. I am removed from it as far as I can be.

kcom said...

"So they don't do things like hack your website and your emails. Or launch nuclear bombs toward your country (Japan)."

In the past the North Koreans have been responsible for the attempted assassination by bombing of the leader of South Korea in Burma, bombing a civilian airliner in flight, and sending frogmen ashore in Japan to kidnap private citizens off the streets and take them back to North Korea.

There are very good reasons to be careful around them. They don't act like normal people.

Jason said...

Go watch "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"

The hate between the two aging Hollywood bitches Joan Crawford and Bette Davis oozes off the screen... and is delicious.

Freeman Hunt said...

Glamour isn't real. It's all an illusion.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mattman26 said...

I guess it's not just teenagers who need to be reminded to be careful what you commit to the digital realm.

I have to say, I found the whole "Django/Twelve Years" thing genuinely (if not exactly maturely) funny. As someone here noted, if that exchange occurred between two Republicans, they'd be exiled to the racist trash-pile forever. Still, it strikes me as reasonably good-natured fun; maybe even lefties, when they think they're off-screen, feel the need to break out of the PC prison.

n.n said...

Hollywood is a microcosm of the real world, where everything is concentrated and accelerated. The competition can be brutal. Especially for women who are expected to display their wares to draw the crowds. Progressive morality has been especially harmful to conserving human dignity.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Scratch a liberal and you'll find a racist. No surprises in there. Although, I do draw a distinction between racial humor -- which can be very funny -- and racism, which ain't funny at all. Unless it's liberals directing it at other liberals, then I enjoy it just a bit.

damikesc said...

So they don't do things like hack your website and your emails. Or launch nuclear bombs toward your country (Japan).

They've done worse than hacking for years. You're not going to placate the lunatics in charge.

wildswan said...

"There's no business like show business"

All these email hacks and resurrected video talks starting with Edward Snowden, continuing through Gruber and now Hollywood itself. Great stuff. But when do we get the Obama hacks?

Mary Beth said...

Information is a 'leak'. Information you can masturbate to is a 'hack'.

In that case, rule 34 makes me think that everything is a hack to someone.

Bill said...

Stupid Jeffrey Breakfast would make a good band name.

Krumhorn said...

Can you imagine if Rupert Murdoch had that exchange with Harry Sloan or Jerry Bruckheimer? The roof would have blown off the tops of the heads of every leftie between Berkeley and Cambridge. The only thing missing from Rudin's or Amy's comments was the usual Hollywood Yiddish word that peppers their conversations about blacks.

Most show biz libruls aren't really all that librul. They view their support as buying off trouble so that the Occupy crowd won't show up outside their homes the way they did that BoA exec's house (while scaring the living crap out of his 14 yr old son who was there alone) or those nice waspy homes up in Darien. And heaven forbid that the rabid crowd takes aim at the Beverly Hills, Bel Air or Brentwood residents.

It's ok to keep the miserable folks surly so long as they don't get rebellious and feel the urge for another pogrom.

- Krumhorn

Revenant said...

I don't agree that Jolie is "minimally talented", but his observation that a Cleopatra movie would be a gigantic bomb sounds dead-on to me.

William said...

I think they'll make the Cleopatra picture before they make another film critical of the Dear Leader......North Koreans have now joined Muslims as people that don't get criticized in major motion pictures.......There's a movie called Red Chapel. It details the experience of two Korean orphans, adopted and raised by Danish foster parents, who visit North Korea. It's part satirical and part terrifying. The filmmaker says at one point that he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison for post modern irony. It was filmed in North Korea. It's very troubling to watch.

RecChief said...

But I've been told that racism doesn't exist on the Left.

And Pascal and Rudin are big time Democrat Party donors

Carnifex said...

What a demotion for Dear Leader. From the Emperor who had no clothes, to Steppin' Fetchit house boy.

That moment in your life where you realize you're nothing but a useful idiot...and your usefulness has run out.