George Clooney was not immune to the effects of the Sony hack that caused reams of personal information about stars and the internal workings of Sony to be revealed on the Internet. Clooney’s email correspondence with Amy Pascal, the Sony Picture Entertainment co-chairman, showed up on the web today. Its contents prove at least one thing: George saw the leak coming.
The email, dated September 5, 2014, just as Clooney was in the midst of media attention over his pending marriage to Amal Alamuddin, is both cryptic in its contents and telling in its foresight. Gizmodo published a screen shot of the email with the “from” email address blacked out, although the bolded initials “GC” are clearly visible. The website claimed the correspondence was buried in Sony executive emails that were leaked yesterday.
The email’s subject line is “knowing this email is being hacked,” and its contents refer to an unnamed project Clooney is working on, even anticipating legal action over the film.
“how much fun are we gonna have… the stakes are higher than citizen kane… if we tell the truth in a compelling way… rupert won’t get time/warner… cnn won’t be fox… i’m so excited to do this film… and for those of you listening in… i’m the son of a news man… everything will be double sourced… so come on with your lawsuits… f***ers…”
According to Gizmodo , Pascal laughed the note off as a joke. Clooney had indicated that he suspected she would be hacked at some point, so he told her he was “just gonna say some s**t.”
Cinema Flair reported in September that Clooney was, indeed, working on a film called Hack Attack .
Esquire quickly picked up on the hacked email today and said it showed Clooney was ahead of the game — and had a right to closely guard his privacy. According to Esquire the hack shows Clooney’s own awareness of our declining privacy.
“He understands the nature of the media, and that technology is making our lives more and more transparent, whether we want them to be or not.”
Esquire pointed out Clooney invoked the moniker of “son of a news man” both in the Sony email and earlier this year, when he admonished the Daily Mail for a piece on Amal Clooney’s mother, Baria Alamuddin.
George Clooney’s father is Nick Clooney, a former anchorman in Lexington, Kentucky, and talk-show host in Columbus, Ohio. In 2012, father and son were arrested outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington, D.C., along with other prominent leaders including several members of Congress.
[George Clooney Image via Cinema Flair ]