'The Interview' Movie 2014 Release Date: Emails Show Seth Rogen Refused to 'Make North Koreans Happy' by Editing Scene With Kim Jong-Un

Actor Seth Rogen objected to re-editing his upcoming film, "The Interview," a comedy about an assassination attempt on North Korea's leader. He said the redacting of the film was foolish and was meant to, as he put it, "make North Koreans happy."

Sony Pictures Entertainment, the studio behind the film that stars Rogen and buddy co-star James Franco, told Rogen to tone down particular scenes, BBC reports. The email exchange was revealed as part of leaked information obtained through a massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures.

Co-chairman Amy Pascal wrote to Rogen to change one scene in which North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is blown up. Pascal said the request came initially from Kazuo Hirai, chairman of Sony Corporation.

"As embarrassing at this has been from my point of view, you have to appreciate the fact that we haven't dictated to you what [the scene] had to be," she said in the email.

Pascall added that the request "isn't some flunky," referring to the high-level executive making the request.

"It's the chairman of the entire Sony Corporation who I am dealing [with]," she continued.

However, Rogen, who also wrote and directed the movie, refused to meet Hirai's demands. He said that the way in which Jong-Un is shown being killed is meant to be humorous and obscuring the scene any further would leave the joke unintelligible.

"This is now a story of Americans changing their movie to make North Koreans happy," the actor wrote in an email dating back to Aug. 15. "That is a very damning story."

In a final email in October, Rogen confirmed he made some edits."Please tell us this is over now," he said.

"The Interview" is due to be released on Christmas Day in the U.S. and sees Rogen and Franco play two entertainment reporters who are granted an exclusive interview with Jong-Un. The CIA then enlists the pair to use their new access to assassinate him.

In June, North Korea described the film as an "undisguised sponsoring of terrorism" and an act of war. They asked for the U.S. and United Nations to block "The Interview's" release.