Fails the Bechdel test
The Interview
2014. Directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, written by Dan Sterling and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
In the action-comedy The Interview, Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) run the popular celebrity tabloid TV show "Skylark Tonight." When they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a fan of the show, they land an interview with him in an attempt to legitimize themselves as journalists. As Dave and Aaron prepare to travel to Pyongyang, their plans change when the CIA recruits them, perhaps the two least-qualified men imaginable, to assassinate Kim Jong-un.
- Released
- 24 Dec 2014
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Comedy
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 52 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dave 322 lines, man
- Seth 320 lines, man
- Sook 73 lines, woman
- Kim 65 lines, man
- Agent Lacey 35 lines, woman
- Guard #1 22 lines, man
- Asian Voice 8 lines
- Associate Producer 7 lines
- Agent Gregory 6 lines
- Annette 6 lines
Full cast, 65 people
- James Franco as Dave Skylark
- Seth Rogen as Aaron Rapaport
- Lizzy Caplan as Agent Lacey
- Randall Park as President Kim Jong-un
- Diana Bang as Sook
- Timothy Simons as Malcolm
- Reese Alexander as Agent Botwin
- James Yi as Officer Koh
- Paul Bae as Officer Yu
- Geoff Gustafson as Cole
- Dominique Lalonde as Jackie
- Anesha Bailey as Janet
- Anders Holm as Jake
- Charles Rahi Chun as General Jong
- Don Chow as Two-Fingered Man
- Colin Foo as Train Passenger
- Larry Hoe as Train Passenger
- Cleo Yeh as Train Passenger
- Yuna Song as Korean Girl
- Michelle Kim McCoy as Hot Korean Girl
- Peenkay Tang as Hot Korean Girl
- Lia Lam as Hot Korean Girl
- Hazeltine Gariza as Hot Korean Girl
- Willem Jacobson as Drone Pilot
- Daniel Lim as Guard #1
- Harrison Lee as Yo-Yo Boy
- Jason Cox as Paparazzi
- John Coughlin as Helicopter Pilot
- Peter Neilly as Helicopter Pilot
- Yoosik Oum as South Korean Scientist
- Scott Seol as Rebel Guard
- Daniel Junghuan Park as Korean AD
- Justin Lee as Squad Leader
- Don Lew as Tape Operator
- Andrew Chin as Video Switcher
- Jung Jin Park as Video Switcher
- Dan Sterling as Tech Specialist
- Fred Henderson as News Anchor
- Dan Shea as Cab Driver
- Tommy Chang as Presidential Guard
- Justin Cho as Presidential Guard
- David Kim as Korean Guard
- Adrian de Lotz as Chinese Bus Driver
- Hong-Gill Cha as N.K. DMZ Soldier
- Sean Cho as N.K. DMZ Soldier
- Dave Ko as N.K. DMZ Soldier
- Jack Jekeon Cha as N.K. DMZ Soldier
- William 'Big Sleeps' Stewart as Doorman
- Joe Mande as Joe
- Alice Wetterlund as Alice
- Stacey Turner as News Anchor
- Sam Catlin as News Anchor
- Guy Fieri as Self
- Ben Schwartz as Publicist
- Eminem as Self (uncredited)
- Rob Lowe as Self (uncredited)
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Self (uncredited)
- Bill Maher as Self (uncredited)
- Seth Meyers as Self (uncredited)
- Emma Stone as Self (uncredited)
- Alan Blumenfeld as Israeli Prime Minister (uncredited)
- David Diaan as Palestinian President (uncredited)
- James Kyson as Secretary of Communication (uncredited)
- Curt Clendenin as Surprise Partygoer (uncredited)
- Song Kang-ho as Soldier Watching the Interview (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 134
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 36 |
| 7 to 9 | 4 | 25 |
| 10 to 12 | 3 | 28 |
| 13 to 15 | 2 | 20 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 27 | 7 | 23 |
| 28 to 30 | 8 | 15 |
| 31 to 33 | 7 | 41 |
| 34 to 36 | 3 | 22 |
| 37 to 39 | 7 | 32 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 11 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 2 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 21 |
| 49 to 51 | 6 | 67 |
| 52 to 54 | 7 | 23 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 22 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 15 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 21 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 12 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 42 |
| 70 to 72 | 5 | 30 |
| 73 to 75 | 16 | 20 |
| 76 to 78 | 8 | 9 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 13 |
| 82 to 84 | 13 | 40 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 25 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 2 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 6 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 2 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 3 |
| 103 to 105 | 1 | 16 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 6 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 6 |
| 112 to 114 | 1 | 13 |
| 115 to 117 | 1 | 8 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 5 |
| 121 to 123 | 2 | 15 |
| 124 to 126 | 10 | 27 |
| 127 to 129 | 0 | 0 |
| 130 to 132 | 9 | 22 |
| 133 to 134 | 0 | 2 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 14 are women's.
123 lines from women, 752 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
10 women and 38 men in the cast. 4 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 141 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 17% of the words (1,880), men 83% (9,311). Women have 14% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
1
Two men
81
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Seth Rogen (man), Evan Goldberg (man)
- Written by
- Dan Sterling (man)
- Story by
- Dan Sterling (man), Evan Goldberg (man), Seth Rogen (man)
- Produced by
- Evan Goldberg (man), Seth Rogen (man), James Weaver (man)
- Shot by
- Brandon Trost (man)
- Edited by
- Zene Baker (man), Evan Henke (man)
- Music by
- Henry Jackman (man)
- Production design by
- Jon Billington (man)
- Costumes by
- Carla Hetland (woman)
- Cast by
- Francine Maisler (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
3 women, 23 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 18 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 9 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 7 men, 7 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 8 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lizzy Caplan 32, Diana Bang 33
Men
Seth Rogen 32, James Franco 36, Timothy Simons 36, Randall Park 40, Geoff Gustafson 40, Reese Alexander 46
Exhibit G: the money
It made 28% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $44 million
- Box office
- $12.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 134 scenes and 974 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
