North Korea: Seth Rogen Movie Is an 'Act of War'

Seth Rogen's movies don't usually get panned quite like this: If the US releases the actor's upcoming film, The Interview—which is about assassinating Kim Jong-un—North Korea says it will see it as an "act of war," official media says, per the BBC. The result: a "merciless counter-measure," says a spokesman for the country. "Making and releasing a movie on a plot to hurt our top-level leadership is the most blatant act of terrorism and war and will absolutely not be tolerated."

The spokesman cites "reckless US provocative insanity." Rogen, whom the spokesman called a "gangster filmmaker," the Verge notes, recently tweeted: "Apparently Kim Jong Un plans on watching #TheInterview. I hope he likes it!" The actor earlier told Yahoo that he and co-director Evan Goldberg did quite a bit of research for the film: "We read as much as we could … We talked to the guys from Vice who actually went to North Korea and met Kim Jong-un. We talked to people in the government whose job it is to associate with North Korea." The BBC notes that Pyongyang currently has three Americans in custody. (More Seth Rogen stories.)