kafka

no

I don't know if there's a clear connection, but this film is somewhat Kafka-esque, in that it depicts a seemingly ordinary man being suddenly arrested for no explicable reason (at least initially). The difference is that in The Trial, we never learn exactly what the protagonist is accused of.

Interesting question. I'll have to re-read The Trial.

The first 30 minutes or so are very much like the Trial. The breaking in the level of abuse for what is only presented as a stolen car. One is left wondering what Hugo Weaving's character has done. It is very much like Kafka. However, once the development of the (false?) confession is brought up and it becomes very different from what Kafka has. If the first 30 minutes continued for three hours than it would be very much like a Kafka story.

I was thinking of the same thing as I watched the film. The first half (or so) of the film is a lot like Kafka's "The Trial". The second half not so much. I would say that the film is like Kafka turned on its head - in Kafka's book it is the motivation of the (criminal) system what is a mystery, the innocence of the protagonist is never in question; in The Interview the criminal procedures are more or less understandable, but the protagonist (Weaving) remains a mystery (did he really do it?, why did he make this crazy confession?, etc.)

The first few minutes are extremely similar to Orson Welle's film of The Trial.