this is "nightline." >> tonight, anatomy of a hostage crisis. the daring and dramatic end to a 16-hour standoff in australia. commandos storming this cafe, after sydney is placed on lockdown. new details now emerging about the 17 people taken hostage and the heroic manager who tried to help them escape. plus, in the snarky world of radio -- >> we have a phone call coming up next. >> he's the anti-shock jock. and it's paying off. from taylor swift to ariana grande and adam levine. why the stars align for radio host elvis duran. and, did north korean hackers leak those sony e-mails because of "the interview"? stars james franco and seth rogen tell our george stephanopoulos about the scandal surrounding their new movie tonight.

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good evening. disturbing new details emerging tonight about the gunman said to have a history of mental instability, taking 17 people hostage in a cafe in australia. s.w.a.t. teams storming the

premises amid heavy gunfire. two hostages lost their lives. could a similar attack happen here? abc's david wright is on the ground in sydney. >> reporter: after 16 tense hours, it was all over in a flash. the australian s.w.a.t. team tossing stun grenades, storming the cafe where the gunman had holed up with his hostages. this sort of scene doesn't happen in sydney, australia, but today, it did. o its core. >> it's lovely, i come here at lunchtime and enjoy my lunch. and it just doesn't feel like that today. >> tragic beyond words that people going about their everyday business should have been caught up in such an horrific incident. >> reporter: 9:45 a.m., blocks away from sydney's world-famous opera house, around the corner from the u.s. consulate, the

gunman, now identified as man ha haron monis, entered the lindt chocolate cafe, taking 17 hostages. he forced them to press their hands against the windows of the cafe, to block any snipers outside. live tv broadcast this chilling image. the hostages in tears raising a black jihadi flag. on it, the muslim profession of faith. "there is no god but allah and mohammed is his prophet." outside, police evacuated all surrounding buildings. >> let's move! >> reporter: concerned about possible bombs. the central business district of australia's largest city on lockdown. inside the cafe, the gunman, in plain sight, behind his human shields. 4:35 p.m., seven hours into the standoff, three male hostages make a break for it. 4:58, two female hostages manage to escape, too. and then, the hostage videos began. the gunman demanding an isis flag and a chance to speak with the australian prime minister. >> he's only asking for a flag

and a phone call. and that's it. >> reporter: turns out the gunman is well known to local authorities. an iranian refugee out on bail. convicted of harassing australian war widow, telling them that their husbands died in afghanistan in vain. >> this pen is my gun. and these words are my bullets. >> reporter: the 50-year-old gunman, awaiting trial for some 40 alleged sexual assaults. police say he was also an accessory with his mistress to the murder of his own wife. long before today's violence, mainstream australian muslims were distancing themselves from him, condemning him as a phony, a fake cleric who does not represent true islam. >> he's really a jihoodlum. these types of guys who are basically thugs who want to do it in name of jihad. >> reporter: today, inside that cafe, he certainly looked the part. >> this was a person with a mental problem who tried to gain attention and succeeded. >> reporter: 2:00 a.m., another hostage manages to escape, dropping to the ground.

then, five more. 2:19, shots fired. police get ready to swarm in. >> they're in. >> oh, oh, oh! >> they're going in. >> they're going in. >> reporter: the whole thing unfolding live in front of the tv cameras. >> they made the call because they believed at that time, if they didn't enter, there would have been many more lives lost. >> reporter: a minute later, two police officers emerge with an older female hostage. a few minutes later, another. an agonizing wait until 2:44, the police finally tweet, sydney siege is over. the hostages, finally free, carried to safety. two of them killed in the melee. katrina dawson, a 38-year-old

lawyer, and tory johnson, aged 34, the manager of the cafe, who eyewitnesses say died heroically, trying to disarm the gunman. >> these events do demonstrate that even a country as free, as open, as generous and as safe as ours is vulnerable to acts of politically motivated violence. but they also remind us that australia and australians are resilient and we are ready to respond. >> reporter: the fact that this was a lone gunman, not a coordinated terror attack as initially feared, doesn't make it any less scary. in fact, it's a troubling trend. as we saw earlier this year in that lone wolf attack on the canadian parliament. tonight, the nypd is beefing up its police presence in parts of new york city. >> the empire state building, the financial district, as you know, this target in sydney was

in the heart of their financial district. columbus circle. other high-profile locations. >> reporter: here in sydney, the fear is balanced now by a show of unity and resilience. all day long, people coming here to martin place to lay flowers. as you can see, it is an impressive pile. #illridewithyou, trending on twitter. an effort to reassure muslims who are afraid of a backlash. tonight, the new south wales premier offered this reassurance. >> the values we held dear yesterday we hold dear today. the values of freedom, democracy and harmony. these defined us yesterday. they will define us today. they will define us tomorrow. >> reporter: but today, in this long, violent standoff, those values were put to the test. i'm david wright for "nightline" in sydney.

up next, from sam smith to meghan trainor, the stars always come out for the jingle ball. along with one very famous voice. we're behind the scenes with elvis duran. and later on "nightline," an interview about "the interview." james franco and seth rogen taking on the hacking scandal surrounding their new movie. quitting smoking this time was different because i got a prescription for chantix. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. the fact that it reduced the urge to smoke helped me get that confidence that i could do it. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some people had seizures while taking chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix or history of seizures. don' take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop chantix and

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he shies away from the crass, crazy shock jock routine, but he's not afraid to give us his uncensored take on the best and worst of hollywood. here's my "nightline" co-anchor dan harris. >> reporter: it's one of the biggest nights in music. jingle ball. madison square garden. and right in the thick of it, rubbing shoulders with stars like taylor swift, pharrell, is elvis duran. he might not be as slick as ryan seacrest or as salacious as howard stern, but he sits astride the number one most popular top 40 morning radio show in america. >> let's say hi to natalie. hi, natalie, what's up? >> reporter: he is a magnet for the boldest of the boldfaced names. in a morning radio universe where many of the biggest players are deliberately obnoxious shock jocks -- >> the real mariah was so there. >> the rumor i was so not there. >> reporter: elvis duran shot to fame while breaking that mold entirely. when you think about morning zoo radio, generally, you think of a

couple of guys urging women to take their shirts off. >> yes. >> reporter: your show is helmed by an openly gay man. your top lieutenants are strong women. >> yeah. >> reporter: and you're actually pretty nice to each other. >> one of our rules for the show, the filter we try to pass everything through is, it's a safe place for women to be. when kim kardashian's rear-end pictures came out, i came on the air and said, you know what, this is a great time for us to celebrate the booty. >> reporter: it's that blend of naughty and nice that for years have proved irresistible. to listeners in more than 80 markets. >> sometimes that person you're interviewing actually gives from their heart. ed sheeran, for instance. >> excellent. >> wow. >> sang a song and at the end of the song, i could feel what he was feeling when he wrote the song and i started to cry. to me, that's the world's best interview. >> reporter: recently, in a bit of a role reversal, elvis agreed to be the one answering questions, as he invited "nightline" to spend some time

with him behind the scenes. >> have you been to my office before? >> reporter: i was here once. >> we do have a drinking problem. >> reporter: do the guests have a little nip? before they go on? >> absolutely. if a guest seems a little nervous, we'll offer them a shot of something. do you need something? >> reporter: we met the whole cast. familiar voices to the 7 million daily listeners. there's the mother of two danielle, the single girl bethany, and the menagerie of merry characters with names like greg t. and karla marie -- >> i love this. >> reporter: all contributing to the exuberance. things are only slightly more subdued when a big star arrives. we were there for singer mary j. blige. >> thank you for having me. today with elvis was like a blessing. it was just -- wow. it was amazing. he's amazing. happy, positive spirit. >> reporter: while elvis may be cozy with a-listers, he does not mind sharing his candid takes. i'll name some names, you tell me your first thoughts. mariah carey.

>> fun, interesting, complex. beautiful. and she -- i think she's lonely. i'm making assumptions here. but i think -- i think she needs us as friends. we should go over now and hang out. i really do. >> reporter: katy perry? >> she was late for our show one day. i sent my assistant downstairs, tell her not to come up. tell her when she's on time, she can be on our show. the next day, she showed up early and gave us a great interview. she's fantastic. love her. >> reporter: who was his worst interview ever? elvis pulls no punches. >> usher. one of the most talented people in music. he was just in a bad mood one day. when we interviewed him. i was watching the text messages from our listeners roll by as we were talking to him and they were not being very kind. like, get this guy off the air. he's very insulting. >> reporter: so you did it, you actually -- >> we thanked him, politely thanked him and ended the interview. >> reporter: while his professional life is undeniably fabulous, off-air elvis is decidedly down to earth. his long-time boyfriend alex carr is a zookeeper.

and on most nights, he's more comfortable home on the couch than at the club. you are surrounded by glamorous celebrities. in your personal life are you hobnobbing with a-listers off the air? >> not at all. i'm not a glamorous person at all. when we are invited to these glamorous events, i just don't fit in. i feel so -- i feel really weird. uncomfortable. >> reporter: part of his shyness, he admits, is due to his insecurity about his weight. >> i haven't seen my penis -- can you see my penis and describe it to me? >> reporter: more seriously, he says he's actually been shy since he was a kid growing up in suburban dallas. >> i didn't have a lot of friends that i hung out with on a day-to-day basis. and i just turned to the radio as my friend. >> reporter: he got his first deejay gig as a teen and started his now-famous morning show 18 years ago. at first, the ratings were bad. until he and his co-host started opening up and talking about their personal lives.

>> we need to learn how to show people who we are so they're comfortable with us. they trust us. >> reporter: that trust grew even deeper after his famous marathon broadcast on the day after 9/11 where all he did was take calls from stunned new yorkers. >> i just sat down at the board, put on my headphones and started taking phone calls. hello, z-100, who is this? my dad didn't come home last night, he worked in world trade center and -- his name is, you know, whatever his name is, and if you hear from him, let him know we're waiting for him at home. all right, you know, the message is out there, thank you. boom. that was -- that's when i learned that radio is very important. and i decided to stick with it that day. welcome to the show. tell us about your experience -- >> reporter: despite his

insistence on awe then authenticity on the air, it wasn't until 2010 that elvis decided to reveal one of the most personal aspects of his own life. >> i never was closeted. but i just never wanted it to be the elvis duran is gay show. i realized one day, if i want to be honest, i need to be talking about my life and my dating life and what it's like for me. and that's when i just came out, said, here i am. there was no big fanfare. there was no hate mail. there was no anything. it was like, oh, you're gay, great. what else? >> happy birthday, elvis! how old is he? ♪ happy birthday >> hey, elvis, happy birthday. >> you're 50? >> reporter: now that he's 50, what's next for the man "the huffington post" called the most important radio deejay in the country? he's thinking about tv, maybe a reality show. but for now, elvis is comfortable doing what he's always done, sitting in the

studio, leading sing-alongs. ♪ supercalifragilistic- expialidocious ♪ >> reporter: and cracking up with his friends. >> in radio, we have no script. we have things, ideas written down. >> reporter: you have no idea what you're doing. >> we really don't. but if we knew what we were doing, we wouldn't be the same show. >> reporter: for "nightline," this is dan harris in new york. up next, did "the interview" trigger the massive sony e-mail hack attack? james franco and seth rogen tell our george stephanopoulos why they have no regrets about making fun of a notorious dictator in their new movie. e wr of this year's superstar... (coughs) coughing can really be disruptive. with a record breaking fifty million votes, your superstar is... that's why there's delsym. delsym helps silence coughs this is dan harris in new york. for all day or all night relief. up to twice as long

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tonight, as sony continues to deal with the fallout over those highly sensitive hacked e-mails that offended many of hollywood's brightest stars, they aren't the only ones who are upset. some believe the security breach was brought on as revenge for the upcoming parody movie "the interview" which takes aim at the north korean regime. abc's chief anchor george stephanopoulos sat down with stars james franco and seth rogen, now finding themselves in the center of a giant and unintended scandal. >> take him out. >> take him out? for drinks? >> no, no, take him out. >> take out? to dinner? >> take him out to a meal? >> take him out. >> like on the town? party? >> no, ah -- take him out. >> you want us to assassinate the leader of north korea? >> yes. >> what? >> james franco, seth rogen here. that's what the whole world is doing right now, saying "what?"

>> it's true. >> did you ever imagine that you were going to stir up a storm like this? >> no. i can't definitively say i know the ramifications of the storm. i don't know if the hacking honestly is because of our movie definitively or not. it is weird. we just wanted to make a really funny, entertaining movie and the movie itself is very silly and it wasn't meant to be controversial in any way. it was really meant to be entertaining. it's supposed to skewer politics and global relations and american policy and celebrity culture. and this one element of it clearly has drawn a lot of focus. >> to be fair, we are, you know, it satirizes american culture just as much. >> the news media. >> yeah. i mean -- we don't hold back there either. >> exactly. >> there have been reports, we've seen the reports of what's happened with sony and also some concern, in japan, sony

headquarters, they wanted you to change the movie. how much did you have to change? >> ultimately, like, it's a creative dialogue, you know? as the filmmaker, we're just trying to entertain the audience as much as possible. ultimately, i'm 100% behind the finished product of the movie. >> 100% behind the finished product. sony has been 100% behind all of you guys, despite what has been this massive attack. any second thoughts at all? >> at this point, we can't -- it's too late to have any, really. i mean, no, i mean, i think, again, i like the movie. i can't, in my head, overconnect everything surrounding it with the movie itself. >> you want to go kill kim jong-un? >> totally. >> it's a date. >> we set out to make a movie that's really entertaining to audiences and i genuinely think we did that. that's where my job ends. >> the very definition of parody, proving, if you're funny enough, you can get away with a lot. thanks for watching abc news.

tune into "good morning america" tomorrow, and as always, we're online at abcnews.com. good night, america.