New e-mails that have emerged in the ongoing Sony Pictures Entertainment scandal has now encompassed the poker community.
According to the London Daily Mail, e-mails leaked out on Friday point out what has been a rather adversarial relationship between the head of the company, Chairman Amy Pascal, and one of the most powerful writers in the film industry Aaron Sorkin. The dispute seems to rage from what projects Pascal wanted Sorkin to tackle for the company. That is where poker gets drawn into the mix.
In the e-mails, Pascal allegedly discusses with other studio executives the problems that she is having in getting Sorkin to take on an adaptation of the book Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. Instead, Sorkin indicates to Pascal that he would rather adapt the book Molly’s Game, written by former cash game organizer Molly Bloom that detailed her history as the hostess for some of the largest poker games on both coasts of the United States. Those e-mails with executives put out serious allegations from Pascal about Sorkin.
In the e-mails, the Daily Mail says that Pascal wrote, “He is broke…He wants to get paid…We paid him his insane fee on flashboys (sic)…When the poker move came around we didn’t want to not be in Aaron business so we wanted that too…I don’t care if Aaron is sleeping with the girl or not, I don’t care if it becomes a best seller. They are treating us like s**t.”
These new e-mails come on the heels of Pascal disparaging another A-list Hollywood actor and the President of the United States. In another leaked e-mail, Pascal and producer Scott Rudin discuss Angelina Jolie, eventually devolving into calling the Oscar-winning actress and burgeoning director “a minimally talented spoiled brat.” Another set of e-mails between the twosome also joke about what President Barack Obama’s favorite movies might be, citing several popular films such as last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave, Django Unchained and The Butler, all films that featured African-Americans prominently.
The e-mail hacks, which have effected nearly every facet of Sony’s empire, stem from a film that will be released within the next couple of weeks. The Interview stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as television news reporters who, upon getting the opportunity to interview North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, are enlisted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to assassinate the dictator. Apparently this has upset the North Koreans, who have been accused of the e-mail hacks but have denied them despite the North Korean government stating, “(the hacks) might be a righteous deed of the supporter and sympathizers with” the country.
Pascal has repeatedly apologized for the volatile e-mails, especially the ones that disparaged President Obama. “I made a series of remarks that were meant only to be funny but, in the cold light of day, they are in fact thoughtless and insensitive. I am profoundly and deeply sorry.” Although the firestorm continues to rage, Pascal’s position with Sony isn’t believed to be in jeopardy as she is one of the most powerful women in Hollywood.
Sorkin himself should come through the melee fine and complete his work on the adaptation for Molly’s Game. Sorkin, whose writing credits include the stage play and movie A Few Good Men, television shows such as The West Wing and The Newsroom and other big screen fare such as Charlie Wilson’s War, The Social Network and Moneyball, can pretty much dictate to studios what projects he wants to work on. Whether he has more than a professional relationship with Bloom isn’t a relative issue (perhaps he can pull off the rare feat of a movie being better than the book).
Even though Molly’s Game is headed for Sorkin’s able hands for an adaptation, there has not yet been a studio willing to pick up the project. With the animosity between Pascal and Sorkin, though, we might not be seeing the film version of Molly’s Game under the Sony Pictures Entertainment banner.
