Replay: Damon Lindelof on unexpected troubles for ‘The Hunt’

Universal’s “The Hunt” is a violent political satire produced by horror kingpin Jason Blum.

The movie was originally set to be released last September, but in the wake of back-to-back mass shootings in California, Texas and Ohio, ESPN pulled an ad for the film. Kim Masters and Tatianta Siegel at The Hollywood Reporter were the first to report that story, and naturally, they described the plot of the film. After that, Fox News picked it up, and Sean Hannity and others railed against the film, even though they hadn’t seen it. Then Trump tweeted, slamming “the racists of liberal Hollywood.”

Just days after The Hollywood Reporter first reported on the film, Universal canceled its September release. Now Universal is set to open the movie on March 13 on 3,000 screens.

Kim Masters recently watched “The Hunt” and stands by her original description of the film: Elites stalk and kill so-called “deplorables,” until one woman turns the tables, and there is a lot of graphic violence.

“The Hunt” was written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof, who was our guest last fall to talk about his HBO series, “Watchmen.” But we asked him about “The Hunt.” This week, we’re revisiting that part of the conversation, which took place when Lindelof didn’t know whether the film would ever be seen.

Lindelof told us that last August, he couldn’t have imagined the troubles that lay ahead for the film.