The cancelled release of The Interview, the movie that sparked a devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures, shows how controversial depicting the assassination of a current world leader can be. Sure, Inglourious Basterds imagined the assassination of Hitler, but this was, of course, several decades after Hitler’s actual death.
It’s also pretty rare for films to have depictions of current or still-living heads of state at all (at the time the movie is made), even without the assassination plots. From Queen Elizabeth II to Ayatollah Khomeini, here are a few examples of world leaders being shown in movies.