Martin Scorsese revealed that his planned Cleopatra film starring Angelina Jolie never materialized because of the 2014 Sony hack involving Seth Rogen.
The hack occurred in November 2014 when a group targeted Sony emails to prevent release of Rogen's comedy The Interview, which depicted a fictional plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Scorsese discussed the incident in the first episode of the Tribeca original series Crafty, saying the hack's aftereffects disrupted the Cleopatra project.
"We were gonna do Cleopatra at one point, and then they made fun of [Kim Jong Un], and he got mad and blew up everybody at Columbia," Scorsese said. "Seth Rogen, right? And then he got mad, and [it] ruined Cleopatra."
While Rogen was not directly responsible for canceling the film, the breach exposed thousands of emails, including messages from producer Scott Rudin to Sony executive Amy Pascal that described Jolie as "a minimally talented spoiled brat."
Scorsese added, "We were gonna do it. Angelina Jolie. We were going. She was gonna be Cleopatra VII. It was gonna be really wild."
The screenplay was to be written by Eric Roth, who also penned Scorsese's 2023 movie Killers of the Flower Moon.
Watch the episode of Crafty below.
