Martin Scorsese Says Sony Hack Killed His ‘Cleopatra' With Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis: “I’m So Mad About It”

Here's one for the "what could have been" file.

In a new Tribeca Series conversation with his daughter Francesca, Martin Scorsese casually revealed that he came very close to directing a "Cleopatra" epic with Angelina Jolie in the title role. And what killed it? North Korea.

Here's Scorsese, sounding filled with regret over the now-shelved project:

Seth Rogen made fun of Kim Jong Un [in 'The Interview'] and he got mad and he blew up everybody at Columbia. And then they ruined Cleopatra. We were going to do it, everything was ready on the script. Angelina Jolie was going to be Cleopatra VII. I'm so mad about it.

If you followed the trades in late 2014, you'll remember Sony's "Cleopatra" as the poster child for the leaked-email fiasco. Scott Rudin was producing, and the project was built around Stacy Schiff's biography. It had just lost David Fincher, who went off to develop "Steve Jobs" instead. Jolie was not happy about that, and the emails made it very public.

The hack exposed Rudin trashing Jolie in private exchanges with then-Sony co-chair Amy Pascal. That's where the now-infamous "minimally talented spoiled brat" line came from, along with Rudin grumbling that the movie's cost could sink both their careers. Scorsese's name was in those emails too. Jolie was eager enough to work with him that she offered to fly out and plead her case. Judging by his comments today, it apparently worked and Scorsese came on board.

And just to add more salt to the wound. According to one leaked email at the time, Scorsese wanted Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis in the film alongside Jolie. That would have reunited the "Gangs of New York" duo, presumably as Mark Antony and Julius Caesar. Pascal privately called his version "very complicated." I'd call it the most exciting casting of the decade.

The FBI blamed the hack on North Korea, as retaliation for "The Interview." Plenty of people scoffed at the time. This is a country with almost no internet, where most citizens have never seen a computer. Then again, the regime pours most of the money it squeezes from its people into defense, and cyberattacks are part of that.

Regardless, it turns out Scorsese came very close to making "Cleopatra," so close that he's still mad about it. Sony has since bounced the project around, with Denis Villeneuve attached at one point, and it still hasn't been made. Maybe it will be one day, but it remains a very pricey risk.