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Sony puts kibosh on media for 'Interview' premiere

Andrea Mandell
USA TODAY
James Franco and Seth Rogen in 'The Interview.'

When you can no longer control the biggest corporate hacking story of our time, what do you do?

If you're Sony Pictures, you pull red carpet invitations to your upcoming premiere.

That's the studio's new strategy for Thursday's red carpet for The Interview, to be held at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Sony told invited media that only photographers and a Sony house crew will be allowed on the carpet, sparing stars Seth Rogen and James Franco from the inevitable hacking questions. Media will be permitted into the screening itself.

The decision came after a new wave of embarrassing e-mails from Sony executives leaked from files stolen by hackers who call themselves the Guardians of Peace. Messy details about Sony's botched development of the film Jobs surfaced on blogs ranging from Gawker to TMZ.

The Interview, a raucous comedy opening Dec. 25, centers on a farcical assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and stars Franco and Rogen. North Korea has denied involvement in the extensive hack into Sony e-mails and other files, which was disclosed Nov. 24.

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