'The Interview' writer is a Philly guy

Dan Sterling, "the guy that brought down Sony," is from Philadelphia.

Sterling wrote "The Interview," the film at the center of the Sony hacking scandal that stars James Franco and Seth Rogen as TV journalists tasked with assassinating North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Sony cancelled the theatrical release after hacker group Guardians of Peace threatened an attack on theaters screening the film.

Sterling canceled an upcoming speaking event at his alma mater, Germantown Friends School. He graduated in 1989.  Last year, he thanked GFS for his career at an alumni event, saying, "If I had spent my time here, at GFS, reading all of the books that they told me to read and listening to what these brilliant teachers had to say, and had I actually engaged for seven hours a day in all of that mind-expanding discourse... I wouldn't have found myself in the surreal situation of sitting in a de facto fart-joke factory and still feeling like a complete philistine." Sterling hails from West Philly.

At the same GFS speaker series event, he discussed his then-new movie, "The Interview," saying, "It's highly profane, and quite violent."

"The Interview" was Sterling's first feature film, after a storied career in television, including stints at "South Park," "The Daily Show" and "The Office."