Unlike Silicon Valley—California’s other major industry, which has fully supported Donald Trump—Hollywood and its soft power remain waiting for the start of the new Government. He establishment American cinema has kept a low profile since the defeat of Kamala Harris, whom it supported with million-dollar donations and even with demands for Joe Biden to abandon the presidential race. Actors, filmmakers and celebrities, who openly raised their voices against the Republican president in his first term, have opted for silence for now, and Trump has responded by naming three ambassadors in Hollywood, as if it were a foreign nation, for advice.
According to Trump’s diagnosis and his protectionist ideology, the film industry “has lost part of its business in the last four years at the hands of foreign countries.” For this reason, the president has appointed, in a highly symbolic position, three veteran actors—Mel Gibson (69 years old), Jon Voight (86) and Sylvester Stallone (78)—to be his “eyes and ears” in the heart. of the industry. “I will do what they suggest (…) And, as in the United States, it will be the golden age in Hollywood again!” Trump said Thursday on his social network, Truth Social.
The appointment of his emissaries has gone largely unnoticed in Los Angeles, a city that is still engaged in the response to the deadly fires recorded since the beginning of January and which have claimed at least 25 lives. “What has Jon Voight been up to recently in Hollywood? “I’ve lost myself,” he said sarcastically on Friday in his podcast journalist Richard Rushfield, author of the influential newsletter The Ankler. Voight, Angelina Jolie’s father, participated in 2024 in MegalopolisFrancis Ford Coppola’s delirious film, although it has produced more headlines praising Donald Trump.
Mel Gibson, another of Trump’s emissaries, has been one of those affected by the fires in Los Angeles. One of the nearly 10,000 properties destroyed is the $14.5 million mansion of the director of The passion of Christ. The luxurious residence, in Malibu, was reduced to ashes while Gibson was in Texas recording the podcast of Joe Rogan, the famous host of a medium that has served as a springboard to the right.
The actor has been described as an anti-Semite since he launched an invective against Jews in 2006 after being detained by the police. In more than two hours of conversation, Gibson, also accused of sexist violence, spoke with Rogan about various topics, but especially about Jesus Christ, the sacred scriptures and the archaeological findings that prove, according to him, the existence of Adam, the first man. .
Trump’s assignment has also put Sylvester Stallone in the spotlight. The star of Rambowho divides his time between Los Angeles and Palm Beach, Florida, is an outspoken admirer of the new president, whom he called “a second George Washington” in an appearance at Mar-a-Lago last November. That night, Stallone compared the Republican president to Christ and to his character, Rocky Balboa. “We are in the presence of a mythological character,” said Stallone, protagonist of the recent series. Tulsa King. At the event it was revealed that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum would be named head of the Interior.
Mutis in the mecca of cinema
The awards season is in full swing and will mark one of its most important dates on Friday with the reveal of the Oscar nominees, who will be awarded on March 2. This has been a particularly apolitical campaign among actors, who often take advantage of the spotlight at galas to launch political messages, as Robert de Niro did at the 2018 Tonys, when he shouted into the microphone: “Fuck Donald Trump!” At the last Golden Globes gala there were hardly any comments in this regard, despite the fact that Sebastian Stan, who plays Trump in He learnedz, a role for which he was nominated, took the stage after winning for his performance in another film: A Different Man.
Trump claims that Hollywood is a “great place with a lot of problems.” The pace of its production has fallen by 27% in the last five years. The industry has not managed to emerge from the crisis it fell into during the pandemic, and which was followed by the actors’ strike, which lasted 118 days. Added to this is now the fire emergency, a disaster that has not yet been quantified, but that will undoubtedly have an impact on the sector. The studio technicians union, IATSE, estimated last week that at least 8,000 of its members were evacuated due to the fires.
The sum of these situations has taken its toll. In 2024, the studios recorded some 23,000 shoots on locations in Los Angeles. Five years earlier that figure was 36,000 filmings, according to the latest FilmLA report.
