Doctor Who movie mooted in Sony leak

Plans for a Hollywood version of Doctor Who are part of the latest revelations from the Sony Pictures’ computer hack.

The BBC said there was “tremendous interest” in the idea during a meeting with Sony last year, although no plans were finalised.

The meeting was disclosed in a hacked email, made public on Wikileaks, six months after a cyber-attack on Sony.

Wikileaks has made the information stolen from Sony available in a searchable format for the first time.

Sony said it “strongly condemns” the release, which amounts to more than 170,000 emails and 30,000 documents.

The new documents reveal more about the internal wranglings at Sony’s film division but, so far, nothing is as embarrassing as the previously-released material.

Last year, Sony’s co-chairman Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin came under fire for a series of racially-insensitive emails about Barack Obama’s taste in films, which were among the first to be leaked.

Rudin was also exposed for calling Angelina Jolie “minimally talented” and a “spoiled brat”.

Pascal eventually stood down from the company, while Rudin apologised for his remarks.

The entertainment company was hacked shortly before the release of comedy film The Interview, which lampooned the North Korean regime.

North Korea denied involvement in the attack but praised it as a “righteous deed”.

Here are some of the initial discoveries from the WikiLeaks information dump.

A Doctor Who film is on the way

There is “tremendous interest” in a Doctor Who film, said the BBC’s director of television, Danny Cohen, in a conversation reported by Sony’s international chief Andrea Wong.

The pair discussed the big-screen adaptation in January 2014, but Cohen warned that the programme’s show runners, including Steven Moffat, “don’t want to do one at this moment”.

“That said, over the course of the coming months, the show running team is coming up with an 8 year timeline for the brand – laying out all that will happen with it,” Ms Wong explained in an email to Michael Lynton, Sony Entertainment CEO.

“So the answer is that a film won’t happen in the next year to 18 months, but it is expected that it will happen after that within the 8 year horizon.”

Mr Lynton replied: “Sounds like we need to meet with the show runners”, but Ms Wong warned him off, saying that too much pressure “actually might hurt our cause”.

“The creative team on the show have been having the movie conversation with BBC Worldwide in recent weeks and are very hot-under-the-collar that their position on it is not being listened to or accepted,” she added.

George Clooney’s email address

t previously emerged that George Clooney was deeply hurt by bad reviews for his World War 2 film Monuments Men.

“I fear I’ve let you all down. Not my intention. I apologize [sic]. I’ve just lost touch… Who knew? Sorry. I won’t do it again,” he wrote, in an anguished email.

But the vital detail missing from previous reports was Clooney’s email handle: Batmansenior.

Allegations of bullying by David O Russell

George Clooney famously fell out with director David O Russell on the set of Iraq war drama Three Kings, after the star stepped in to stop Russell’s apparent mistreatment of various crew members.

Even five years later, the usually sedate Clooney told Premiere magazine that he would “sock Russell in the mouth” if he ran into him.

The director’s behaviour was said to have improved since then – but Michael Lynton’s brother-in-law, TV producer Jonathan Alter, wrote an email last September, alerting Lynton to reports of misbehaviour on the set of American Hustle.

Citing a crew member who had worked on the film, Alter said: “The new stories of his abuse and lunatic behaviour are extreme even by Hollywood standards.

“Apparently he behaved on The Fighter, but acted so crazy on Hustle that it’s another Clooney situation where a lot of people won’t work with him again. He grabbed one guy by the collar, cursed out people repeatedly in front of others and so abused Amy Adams that Christian Bale got in his face and told him to stop acting like an asshole.”

The allegations have not been proven.

Jennifer Lawrence needs a lot of private jets

Movie star Jennifer Lawrence’s standout turn as a scheming, desperate housewife in American Hustle resulted in a flurry of award nominations last year.

The trouble for Sony was that the award ceremonies all clashed with her filming schedule for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay in Georgia, Atlanta.

So, on three occasions, the company spent up to $51,000 (£34,000) chartering private jets to and from the set.

But that was small change compared to the penalty fee they nearly incurred when Lawrence was delayed by bad weather, after the New York premiere of American Hustle in December 2013.

A panicked email exchange suggests Sony would have forfeited $500,000 (£333,000) if she’d failed to make her 6am call time.

Oscar voters had concerns over 12 Years a Slave

Veteran Hollywood press officer Peggy Siegal emailed Amy Pascal in October 2013 to assess 12 Years A Slave’s chances at the Oscars – where it was up against Sony’s own American Hustle.

“The Academy consists of approximately 6,000 white 60-year-old men who are educated, experienced filmmakers who take their voting power seriously,” she wrote.

“They are all fiercely patriotic and very aware of our day by day international standing, politically and culturally.

“’12 Years’ is truly a brilliant film with a compelling story [but] this film is made by a Brit that exposes the darkest ‘hidden history’ of America, exposing a cruel and brutal segment of our white society.

“The Academy’s experience of watching this film is not pleasant. Some will not see it… yet, because of the violence.

“I think the voters are patiently waiting for an excuse to vote for another film. In their hearts, they are uncomfortable sending a global message from a Brit that we are, or were, terrible people.”

Rooney Mara wants a Dragon Tattoo sequel

Sony’s English-language adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a global hit, but it has been less than forthcoming on whether the next two books in Steig Larsson’s series will be filmed.

That may be due to the studio’s strained relationship with director David Fincher (who, according to one email, “refused to put the girl with the dragon tattoo in the ads for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”).

But Rooney Mara, who played the title role, decided to seek clarification from Pascal.

“Logic tells me they are not ever happening – as it’s been almost three years since it came out,” she wrote last October.

“But I had still been holding out a little bit of hope. I know there had been talks to do some sort of TV version without me. People still ask me about it ALL the time. And I never know quite what to say. So I guess I just wanted to ask you, so I could know for myself and so that I can let it go for good if that’s the case.

“It’s obviously a character and an experience I hold very close.”

Pascal’s response was simply: “I would love to chat with you.”

Daniel Craig lost $5m on product placement deal

Sony’s electronics division were keen to have one of their phones – the forthcoming Sony Xperia Z4 – featured in the new Bond film, SPECTRE.

The sticking point was that the film’s executive producer, Barbra Broccoli, was demanding a placement fee. So Sony’s marketing chief George Lyon came up with a plan.

Noting that $5m (£3.3m) had already been earmarked to pay Daniel Craig for pictures of him using the phone, he suggested: “What if we take the Daniel Craig fee and convince Sony just to pay Barbara directly $4m for a placement fee?

“No Daniel this time. We walk from him. The remaining $1m (or LESS!) of this budget can be used to hire ‘Q’ instead?”

The documents do not disclose how this tactic played out.

Scott Rudin’s distaste for Angelina Jolie continues

Rudin’s attacks on Angelina Jolie were due to the tortuous process of bringing Cleopatra back to the big screen.

Tension arose after Jolie’s preferred director, David Fincher, became unavailable and Rudin’s attempts to suggest alternatives – including Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott – were not immediately embraced.

When Jolie wrote: “I’m studying a few more films to be sure”; Rudin emailed Pascal to say: “Beyond belief. She’s studying films. Kill me please. Immediately.”

Pascal replied: “What films is she studying?” to which Rudin pinged back: “I assume the ones she’s been in.”

Rudin apologised for his comments after the initial leak, saying: “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 – and not funny at all.”

Jonah Hill is very safety conscious

Following a meeting about comedy cop movie 22 Jump Street, Sony’s president of production fired off an email to his senior colleagues.

“As soon as I came got back to my office, [producer] Brian Bell called to tell me that Jonah is refusing to drive the Lamborghini! He doesn’t feel safe! They’re OK, they’re suiting up his double.”

Ryan Gosling made his name playing shadowy, disturbed characters in films like Drive and The Place Beyond The Pines.

So it’s something of a surprise to find out that the Canadian actor was desperate to make a film from the video game BioShock – a first-person shooter set in an post-apocalyptic underwater city.

“Ryan asked me to as[k] you if you are really doing a Bio Shock movie,” his agent emailed Pascal, apparently mystified.

“Not sure exactly which one he is referring to, but I told him I would ask.”

BBC