Quick summary
- Martin Scorsese joked in a late-October interview with his daughter Francesca that Seth Rogen‘s film The Interview ruined a planned Cleopatra movie.
- The film was to star Angelina Jolie, with Eric Roth on the script, but it never reached a confirmed production start.
- The link is the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, which the FBI attributed to North Korea.
- Separately, Rogen’s comedy The Invite is among five films Tom’s Guide picked as new to HBO Max in November, with a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Martin Scorsese has blamed a Seth Rogen comedy for the death of his Cleopatra project, and he did it with a smile. Speaking to his daughter Francesca on Tribeca’s Crafty, in a clip from late October, Scorsese said the film fell apart after a joke about Kim Jong Un led to a cyberattack on Columbia’s parent studio. The Seth Rogen Scorsese Cleopatra exchange is a gag, not an accusation, according to 3DVF.
What Scorsese said about Cleopatra
3DVF quotes Scorsese as saying the team was “gonna do Cleopatra at one point”, then “they made fun of” Kim Jong Un, and “he got mad and blew up everybody at Columbia, Seth Rogen, right, and it ruined Cleopatra.”
He described a project that was ready to move. “Eric Roth was ready on the script; everyone was ready. It was Angelina Jolie; we were going,” he said. Roth later wrote Killers of the Flower Moon for Scorsese.
Francesca joined in: “Seth, you ruined Cleopatra! I’m so mad about it.” Scorsese’s reply was that she should tell Rogen, “because they ruined everything just because Kim Jong-un doesn’t have a sense of humor.”
3DVF is clear that Scorsese’s jab at Rogen was affectionate. Rogen did not carry out the hack, and the outlet does not claim the hack alone cancelled the film.
How the Sony hack connects
The Interview, which Rogen made with Evan Goldberg in 2014, is a comedy about a fictional plot to assassinate Kim Jong Un. A cyberattack on Sony Pictures followed, and the FBI attributed it to North Korea as retaliation for the film, 3DVF reports.
The breach exposed thousands of internal emails. Among them were discussions about Cleopatra between producer Scott Rudin, Sony co-chair Amy Pascal and Jolie, including possible directors such as Tomas Alfredson.
Rudin had begun developing the film in 2010 from Stacy Schiff’s book Cleopatra: A Life, per 3DVF. David Fincher was attached by 2011 and had left by August 2012. That is two years before the hack, so the timeline suggests the project was already in trouble. Rudin also wrote disparagingly about Jolie to Pascal in the leaked messages.
Hollywood had been burned by a Cleopatra before. The 1963 film with Elizabeth Taylor nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox, 3DVF notes.
The Studio turned the joke around
There is a neat echo in Rogen’s own TV work. In the first episode of The Studio on Apple TV+, Scorsese plays himself and Rogen plays studio boss Matt Remick. Remick blocks Scorsese’s proposed Jonestown film, Kool-Aid.
Rogen’s The Invite arrives on HBO Max
Rogen is also in the streaming news this week. Tom’s Guide lists The Invite among five acclaimed films new to HBO Max in November 2026, each scoring 90% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes. The Invite scores 96%.
According to Tom’s Guide, the film was written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack and directed by Olivia Wilde. Rogen plays Joe and Wilde plays Angela, a struggling married couple who invite their upstairs neighbours, played by Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton, to dinner. It unfolds in real time over one evening.
The same list includes “Tony”, a coming-of-age drama about a young Anthony Bourdain with Antonio Banderas as a chef, which scores 93%. A Judy Garland film also makes the list, though the page we could read did not include its details.
For more on Rogen’s recent work, see our Seth Rogen tag page, including his Alzheimer’s charity figures for 2025 and the latest in Movies.
What happens next
Nobody has announced a revival of Cleopatra, and Scorsese has not named a replacement project in the clip. The Invite is streaming on HBO Max now, according to Tom’s Guide. Rogen has not publicly responded to the joke in the sources we reviewed.
Frequently asked questions
Did Seth Rogen cause the Sony hack?
No. The Sony Pictures cyberattack followed The Interview, which Rogen made with Evan Goldberg, and the FBI attributed it to North Korea. Scorsese’s comment was a joke.
Was Scorsese’s Cleopatra ever made?
No. Scorsese said it was ready to go with Angelina Jolie, but 3DVF reports the project never reached a confirmed production start.
Where can I watch The Invite?
Tom’s Guide says The Invite is streaming on HBO Max now, with a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score.
