Sony Leak Reveals Controversial Kim Jong-Un Death in 'The Interview' [VIDEO]

Over the past few weeks, we've seen all kinds of documents, emails and other tidbits from the Sony Pictures Entertainment leak, caused by hackers that claim to be retaliating for the release of the movie "The Interview."

Now, you can see the scene that may have caused the entire stir.

"The Interview" stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as journalists sent to North Korea with the intention of assassinating dictator Kim Jong-Un. We know that they succeed in their goal by the end of the movie, as Jong-Un's death scene has been a concern for Sony since the movie started filming.

In a video leaked as part of the SPE hack, the death of the fictional Kim Jong-Un is shown in fully rendered detail. He's in a helicopter that gets hit by a missile, causing an explosion that burns and the explodes his head in slow motion.

As evidenced by leaked emails, Sony has shown concern over this sequence and asked Rogen et al to tone down the violence in order to calm political tensions and help encourage a more lenient rating in foreign countries.

"We took out three out of four face embers," Rogen wrote in an email to Amy Pascal. "Reduced the hair burning by 50%, and significantly darkened the chunks of Kim's head."

Sure enough, the clip that's available online isn't too terribly gory by Hollywood standards, and seems to be toned way down from what the filmmakers behind "The Interview" wanted.

"I think this is a substantial improvement from where we were, and if we can agree on this direction conceptually I believe we can push them a bit further," Pascal said in an email to Sony Japan CEO Kazuo Hirai, who wrote her asking that the shot be significantly altered—or even removed entirely—in order to air outside the U.S.
 
"If we force them to go with the version where there is no head explosion it will be difficult but survivable," she continued. "They really believe this is what's necessary to make it play like a joke. As you know, they have agreed to completely cut the head popping and reduce the violence generally in any international version of the movie."
 
If anything, it seems that Sony, Seth Rogen and James Franco have all learned a lesson: If you're going to make fun of a foreign dictator in a movie, make sure that he's animated ("South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut") or a puppet ("Team America: World Police").
 
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