Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal is leaving her position for a “major new production venture at the studio,” Sony said in a statement.
In other words, somebody had to take the fall in the wake of the Sony hacking debacle, but she’s good and they don’t want to totally lose her.
Three months ago, hackers got their mitts on lots of company and employee info and went public with it. They also released a flood of embarrassing emails between Pascal and others, including some that ripped Angelina Jolie and made racist jokes about President Obama.
He responded by nuking Culver City.
That where Sony’s studios are … it was a joke.
Sigh … anyway, Pascal said in the statement, “I have always wanted to be a producer,” adding this “transition” was in the works “for quite some time.”
Of course it was.
“I have spent almost my entire professional life at Sony Pictures and I am energized to be starting this new chapter based at the company I call home,” she said.
Pascal said she has a four-year deal with Sony and will “retain all distribution rights worldwide to films financed.” her new offices will be located on the Sony lot.
You know — in Culver City.
Pascal, who was behind films like “American Hustle,” “Moneyball” and “The Social Network,” was in the middle of the hacking controversy, which was reportedly in retaliation for the Seth Rogan/James Franco comedy “The Interview,” in which the pair play journalists sent to North Korea to assassinate leader Kim Jong-un.
After emails between her and producer Scott Rudin were released — in which Rudin called Jolie a “minimally talented spoiled brat,” and jokingly speculated what films with mostly black casts President Obama enjoyed — Pascal apologized for saying “something stupid.”
“I am mostly disappointed in myself,” Pascal told Deadline Hollywood. “That is the element of this that has been most painful for me. I don’t want to be defined by these emails, after a 30-year career.”
Tony Hicks writes celebrity commentary for the Bay Area News Group. Contact him at Facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.TonyHicks or Twitter.com/tonyhicks67
