James Franco: I don't get the political hype

James Franco doesn't know why people had high political expectations for The Interview.

The comedy movie is about a talk show host and his producer tasked with the job of assassinating North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The premise has seen a violent backlash from people who oppose the movie, which led to numerous confidential emails from Sony Pictures executives being leaked, allegedly perpetrated by North Korea.

"It's a genuinely funny movie, but the older crowd also had these weird expectations that it would be Zero Dark Thirty or [based on the manhunt of Osama bin Laden] something, when I think what Seth [Rogen] and Evan [Goldberg, co-writer and co-director] did – which was great – was blend their normal, genuinely funny comedy with a subject that is pretty serious," James outlined to The Daily Beast.

"It felt like there was some resentment from people that Seth Rogen, the lovable stoner, would dare take on such a subject."

Following the leaked emails in November, Sony announced it would be withdrawing the film from its slated December 25 release date following terrorist attack threats against the planned New York premiere and America-wide release. American politicians waded into the argument, urging movie fans to see the film.

The reaction has amazed James, who plays dim talk show host Dave Skylark in the feature - especially as political figures hadn't even seen it.

"At first, it was as if all of Hollywood was under attack and we're representing Hollywood, and then you have these right-wingers coming out and saying, 'Go see this movie!' Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are saying, 'Go see this movie!' without having even seen it themselves, just because," he sighed.