Before we knew it, a month had passed since Trump took office as the US President for the second time. The various new policies he introduced have shaken the entire United States, and Hollywood is no exception. From the new tax policy to the complete abolition of the DEI project to various personnel appointments, all are shaking up the ecology of Hollywood.
Tariff policy may restrict overseas filming
As early as the beginning of his term, Trump appointed Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as "special ambassadors" for Hollywood, hoping that the three could bring back a lot of business that has been taken away by foreign countries in the past four years in Hollywood, "this great but very turbulent place, and make Hollywood bigger, better and stronger than ever before!" He even called the three his "eyes and ears", claiming that the White House would follow their advice to help Hollywood return to its golden age.
However, dozens of days have passed, and the outside world still has no idea what the three envoys are going to do and what they have done. There are even media reports that one of the parties involved, Mel Gibson, did not know about this beforehand. It was only after his friends called to congratulate him that he checked online and found that he had become Trump's envoy. In any case, the Oscars ceremony in March is coming up, and whether the three envoys will attend has become a hot topic of concern.
It is not difficult to see from the above message from Trump to the special envoy that he intends to attack "foreign countries". To put it bluntly, he wants Hollywood to become the base camp of American film and television production again. As we all know, in recent years, with the rapid rise in labor and various costs of filming movies in the United States, a large number of film and television works have chosen to be filmed in Europe, Oceania, Asia and other places. In this way, not only can expenses be reduced, but also local tax relief policies can be used to reduce costs. However, Trump has already imposed tariffs in many areas. It is very likely that additional taxes or bans will be imposed on such Hollywood films produced overseas. Such expectations have made industry insiders feel at a loss.
"Everyone is wondering, will we be able to make movies in Mexico or Canada in the future?" Josh Rosenbaum, manager of Waypoint Entertainment, which has participated in the financing of films such as "The Favourite" and "The Long Legs", said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter at the Berlin Film Festival, "We have no way of knowing. Frankly speaking, it is chaos at the moment. There are no rules at all, because he may introduce new laws at any time."
Hollywood's big companies "surrendered" first
In addition to economic policies, there are also cultural aspects that touch upon the content of the film itself. The most obvious example is The Apprentice, which participated in the Cannes Film Festival last year. Because of the threats from the Trump camp, no one dared to distribute the film in the United States. In the end, it was only the independent film company Briarcliff Entertainment that intervened and released it on a small scale. A European film sales agent admitted in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: "We are very worried that American distributors will not dare to take over any films that criticize Trump or his supporters. Even if it is a film about immigration or sexual minorities, I am afraid that they will be much more cautious than in the past because they are worried that the risks are too great."
Mark Ruffalo (center) plays a megalomaniac former politician in "Number 17" who is believed to be a reference to Trump
At this year's Berlin Film Festival, Bong Joon-ho's new film "Number 17", in which Mark Ruffalo plays a megalomaniac former politician and his crazy fans, was generally seen as a satire on Trump and his supporters; and Mexican director Michel Frank's "Dreams", which was shortlisted for the main competition unit and tells the story of a Mexican dancer who sneaks across the border to the United States, was also seen as an indirect accusation against Trump's new immigration policy.
However, whether there will still be Hollywood companies willing to invest in and distribute such works in the future remains an unknown for the time being. After all, after Trump made a new decision on DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), Hollywood leaders such as Disney have actively followed up, and their attitude can be described as fearful. Earlier, Todd Haynes, chairman of the jury of the main competition unit of this year's Berlin Film Festival, publicly stated that he was very worried that Hollywood would choose this kind of soft approach. "We have seen that various DEI projects have fallen like dominoes. Whether it is an enterprise, a company or an individual, everyone thinks that we should deal with it passively first, and then plan for the long term. But history has told us more than once that once you choose to be soft, they will make further demands, and being soft will not bring you any rewards, because people like them are always greedy."
Indeed, as early as the end of January when Trump took office, Variety published an article by senior reporter Tatiana Siegel titled "Hollywood is ready to work with Trump." In her opinion, the fact that Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos, Disney CEO Bob Iger and others have donated to Trump shows that the tide has completely turned. Moreover, even the civil rights organizations that used to love to comment on Hollywood, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Association (GLAAD), the American Civil Liberties Union, and Color of Change, have not made much movement for the time being.
In the article, an independent film producer who wished to remain anonymous said that he didn't actually care about Trump's political stance, but "it was refreshing to hear the president pay attention to our industry and to hear him say he wanted to get Hollywood back on track. After all, you don't often hear Biden talk about how to help us." The producer also complained about his experience of traveling to Europe to shoot a film last year: "We had to shoot the entire film in Bulgaria because the cost there was only half of that in Los Angeles. But I had to sleep in a stinky hotel. If I could start filming nearby in Los Angeles, I could sleep in the big house I worked so hard to buy every day."
Actor blasts new policy and Trump supporters
Compared with the business-oriented attitude of Hollywood companies, the vast majority of Hollywood actors, who have always been left-leaning, have clearly chosen to fight a big battle with Trump and his men.
Octavia Spencer mocked DOGE led by Musk on social media
Octavia Spencer, the actress who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the film "The Help", recently shared a still from her role in the film on her personal social media, and wrote that she needed vanilla from Mexico and maple syrup from Canada, as well as some "special ingredients" to bake some poop pies for those employees employed by DOGE ("Department of Government Efficiency") - since Trump returned to the White House, this new department led by Musk has been at the center of public opinion for various initiatives.
Soon, the film's star Viola Davis and others also posted their support and added a lot of poop emojis in the comments. In "The Help", Spencer plays a maid who decides to retaliate against the racial discrimination of her white boss, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, because he refuses to let her use the indoor bathroom. So she gives the latter a homemade "chocolate custard pie" with the boss's own poop in it.
Recently, Hunter Shaffer, a famous transgender actress in Hollywood, swore on her personal social media because Trump's executive order changed the gender on her newly received passport from self-identified female to male. She cursed the US government in the video and said, "I really don't know what to do, but I feel it is necessary to share this with everyone. This is absolutely true."
Hunter Shaffer's new passport has the gender column marked as "M", which means "male"
At the beginning of the video, Hunter Shaffer explained that he was going to travel abroad, but his bag was stolen in Barcelona last year and his passport was lost, so he needed to apply for a new passport. Only then did he find that Trump's executive order had taken effect, instead of "just verbal talk, not really advancing" as he originally thought. "I filled out all the information as usual, and I filled in female, but when I opened my passport today, they changed the gender column to male."
On his first day in office, Trump signed a series of executive orders, one of which was to declare that the US government only recognizes two genders, male and female. As part of the order, federal agencies were required to use the word "sex" instead of "gender" and require all "government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and global entry cards, to accurately reflect the sex of the holder." "Across the country, ideologists who deny the biological reality of sex are increasingly using laws and other coercive means to allow men to self-identify as women and enter single-sex intimate spaces designed for women, including shelters for women suffering from domestic violence and women's locker rooms. This is all wrong. The practice of eliminating the biological reality of sex fundamentally attacks women and deprives them of their dignity, safety, and well-being." Trump's executive order reads.
Alan Ritchson in the American TV series "Jack Reacher"
In addition, Alan Ritchson, the star of the American TV series "Reacher", recently accepted an interview with "GQ" magazine while promoting the third season of the show, and fired at Matt Gaetz, a Trump supporter who was originally nominated as Attorney General. He revealed that the two were high school classmates in Florida, and he was very puzzled that Gaetz could get the votes of voters in the state. "That bastard, he and I have been enemies since childhood. We all know his background, he is not a good person!"
Matt Gates responded to his old classmate's criticism on his personal social media page soon. In his opinion, Richson's unwarranted criticism of him was just to attract attention in the media. "Hollywood obviously changes people, but we have never had a hostile relationship, because I participated in debate competitions and won the championship, while Alan participated in acting activities... In fact, he has always been very kind to me (and everyone), and his mother likes me very much."
Trump supporters become more vocal
There are people who oppose Trump, and there are naturally people who support his various practices, although these people are definitely a minority in Hollywood. However, compared with a few years ago, the obvious change is that Hollywood celebrities who support the Republican Party and Trump have stepped forward to express their positions with a much firmer attitude.
Zachary Levi (second from right) in the new film "Unbreakable Boy"
Zachary Levi, who plays the superhero Shazam and has publicly supported Trump for some time, said during the promotion of his new film The Indestructible Boy that he has no regrets about his choice, even if it means being shunned by Hollywood and damaging his career. In his words, "You have to make sacrifices."
In his opinion, Hollywood is already a "completely falling apart industry". "Please, in a few years, maybe Hollywood won't exist anymore, and there won't be any job opportunities for me. Of course, I still hope that I won't lose my entire acting career, but at least so far, I still have movies to shoot... In short, none of this matters. If the whole world is about to fall off a cliff, what's the point of working and shooting movies?"
Gabriel Basso (left) as young Vance in Hillbilly Elegy
In addition, Gabriel Basso, the actor who played Vance in the movie "Hillbilly Elegy", recently called on his fellow actors in a podcast to "shut up" and say less about political views. In his view, being an actor is just an ordinary job, which does not mean that they have the privilege to instill political views into the public. "We say what the director and screenwriter tell us to say. We are told how to say it and where to stand. Then what? Are we going to tell people how to vote? You should be quiet and do your job as an actor. You should entertain the public and shut up."
Current U.S. Vice President Cyrus Vance wrote this best-selling memoir in 2016, which was adapted into a movie in 2020, produced by Netflix and directed by Ron Howard. Basso plays the young Vance in the film. Basso, 30, currently plays the leading role of FBI agent Peter Sutherland in Netflix's hit series "The Night Man" and has a bright future. Recalling his experience dealing with the prototype of the character Vance when filming "Hillbilly Elegy", Basso revealed that he still thinks Vance is a "cool guy". "We just chatted for a while, we're all from the Midwest. We talked about life, the kind of life that grew up in the woods."
And Drew De Mattei, an actor in the American TV series "The Sopranos" who was born in 1972, recently said that she voted for Biden's election in 2020, but switched to support Trump in 2024 because she was disillusioned by the Democratic Party's policy of mandatory vaccination for the new crown vaccine. "The situation has changed a little bit now, and Hollywood's acceptance of Trump has obviously increased." She said, "In fact, no matter what happens, Hollywood will eventually accept it, because in the final analysis, this is a huge business, and making money is the first priority for them."
