Martin Scorsese’s Cleopatra with Angelina Jolie died because of a Seth Rogen comedy

Martin Scorsese nearly directed a Cleopatra epic starring Angelina Jolie — but thanks to an entirely unrelated comedy about North Korea, the whole thing vanished in smoke. As odd as it sounds, yes, it's really Seth Rogen and his film The Interview that managed to scupper Scorsese&Jolie's brush with Egyptian drama.

Scorsese told his daughter Francesca, during Tribeca’s Crafty video chat: "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… Seth Rogen, right? And then he got mad, and [it] ruined Cleopatra."

The Comedy That Killed Cleopatra

Quick recap for anyone who blinked and missed that weird pop culture moment: back in 2014, Seth Rogen co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in The Interview, a comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea did not, famously, see the funny side, and responded with threats against the US. What followed was a massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures (parent company to Columbia), leaking all sorts of confidential emails and details. It was messy, ugly, and amounted to the equivalent of watching an A-list disaster unfold via BCCs and bad password security.

Scorsese elaborated, "We were going to do it. Eric Roth was ready on the script. Angelina Jolie was Cleopatra VII. It was gonna be really wild."

Mixed into those hacked Sony emails? An especially tactless exchange between the film's producer Scott Rudin and then-Sony co-chair Amy Pascal, with Rudin calling Jolie a "minimally talented spoiled brat." You can imagine how well that went down with Jolie's camp — not to mention what it meant for the project's already delicate footing. Things fell apart. No Cleopatra for Marty, and Jolie found herself with one less crown to wear.

• Scorsese was set to direct, with Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Dune) finishing the screenplay.
• Angelina Jolie was cast as Cleopatra VII.
• The fallout from The Interview and ensuing Sony hack torpedoed the whole project.

Scorsese’s own daughter Francesca, not missing the point, even joked at Seth Rogen's expense during their chat — blaming him for the demise of her dad's ancient epic. Scorsese shot back that if she wanted to complain, she should "tell Seth," chalking it up to Kim Jong Un’s complete lack of a sense of humour.

Scorsese&Next Venture

If you’re wondering what Scorsese is actually working on now, he’s in post-production for something very different: What Happens at Night. This one’s a psychological horror, with an eyebrow-raising cast — Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Patricia Clarkson, Mads Mikkelsen, and Jared Harris all on board.

The basic setup: an American couple heads to a snowy European backwater to adopt a baby and end up stranded in a suspiciously empty hotel surrounded by sinister types: think chanteuses, dodgy businessmen, and dodgier faith healers. Reality’s on thin ice, and the more they try to get what they came for, the less they recognise their own lives. No official release date yet, but it’s being handled by Apple Original Films and expected out next year.

Scorsese’s Cleopatra project was scrapped as a direct result of the Sony hack triggered by The Interview controversy in 2014.