Entertainment

Director Of ‘The Hunt’ Says Film Was Misunderstood, ‘Ambition Was To Poke At Both Sides’

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Katie Jerkovich Entertainment Reporter
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Director of “The Hunt,” Craig Zobel,  broke his silence on the film being canceled following a series of mass shootings and said the “ambition was to poke at both sides” of the political aisle.

Zobel’s film, that was to be released Aug. 10, shows “liberal-elites” who kidnap and hunt a group of “deplorables” for sport, before Universal announced it was canceled.

Zobel said he hopes the movie will still come out at some point and said the film has been completely misunderstood, according to Variety magazine in a piece published Monday. (RELATED: ‘The Hunt’ Has Ads Pulled Following Mass Shootings)

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“If I believed this film could incite violence, I wouldn’t have made it,” Zobel wrote. “Our ambition was to poke at both sides of the aisle equally. “We seek to entertain and unify, not enrage and divide. It is up to the viewers to decide what their takeaway will be.”

“I wanted to make a fun, action thriller that satirized this moment in our culture — where we jump to assume we know someone’s beliefs because of which ‘team’ we think they’re on … and then start shouting at them,” he added. “This rush to judgment is one of the most relevant problems of our time.”(RELATED: Texas Lt. Gov Warns Far-Left Group: ‘Stay Out Of Texas’ In wake Of Walmart Shooting)

At one point, the director said he definitely supported Universal’s decision to delay the release following the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton Ohio that left more than 30 people dead.

“I was devastated by going to sleep to El Paso and waking up to Dayton,” Zobel wrote. “These types of moments happen far too often. In the wake of these horrific events, we immediately considered what it meant for the timing of our film. Once inaccurate assumptions about the content and intent of the movie began to take hold, I supported the decision to move the film off its release date.”

The director concluded and said that he hoped in the end the movie could be a comment on how we have become so polarized due to politics.

“My hope would be that people will reflect on why we are in this moment, where we don’t have any desire to listen to each other,” Zobel said. “And if I’m lucky some of us will ask each other: how did we get here? And where do we want to go moving forward?”