Pedro Pascal urges filmmakers to resist Trump
Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal issued an expletive-laced call for Hollywood to resist political pressure in the United States on Saturday while admitting it is "scary" to speak out against President Donald Trump. Asked about Trump's immigration policies, "The Last of Us" star told reporters: "It's very scary for an actor participating in a movie to sort of speak to issues like this."
"I'm an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the US after asylum in Denmark... I stand by those protections," the 50-year-old told a news conference in Cannes. He was at the Cannes film festival alongside Joaquin Phoenix to premiere "Eddington", an intense and darkly satirical examination of America's toxic politics set in New Mexico during the COVID pandemic.
Directed by horror specialist Ari Aster, it earned praise for its vaulting ambition, but Time magazine's critic was one of several who found it "overstuffed with ideas". Echoing a message from Robert De Niro on the opening night of Cannes, Pascal insisted that the film industry needed to find the courage to be political.
"So keep telling the stories, keep expressing yourself and keep fighting to be who you are," he said. The people that try to make you scared. And fight back. "This is the perfect way to do so in telling stories. Don't let them win."
US actor Robert De Niro receives the Honorary Palme d'Or from US actor Leonardo Dicaprio during the Opening Ceremony of the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 13, 2025.
Chilean-US actor Pedro Pascal and US actor Joaquin Phoenix pose during a photocall for the film "Eddington".
Chilean-US actor Pedro Pascal poses during a photocall for the film "Eddington" .
US actress Jennifer Lawrence and British actor Robert Pattinson arrive for the screening of the film "Die, My Love".
British actor Robert Pattinson, British director Lynne Ramsay and US actress Jennifer Lawrence pose during a photocall for the film "Die, My Love" at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 18, 2025. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP)
(From left) Northern irish cinematographer Seamus Mcgarvey, US actress and singer Sissy Spacek, British actor Robert Pattinson, British film director, screenwriter, cinematographer Lynne Ramsay, US actress Jennifer Lawrence, US actor Lakeith Stanfield, costume designer Catherine George, production designer Tim Grimes and German film editor Toni Froschammer attend a press conference for the film "Die, My Love".
Political Cannes
Trump has made himself one of the main talking points in Cannes this week after announcing on May 5 that he wanted 100-percent tariffs on movies "produced in foreign lands". De Niro, who accepted a Cannes lifetime achievement award on Tuesday, urged the audience of A-list directors and actors to resist "America's philistine president".
Many film dealmakers in Cannes this week have criticized Trump's tariff idea, with Scott Jones from Artist View Entertainment telling AFP that the idea "could really hurt us". The Cannes Festival on the French Riviera, which runs until next Saturday, has been highly politically charged this year, with US domestic politics as well as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine drawing strong statements.
Megastars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson ensured attention was still focused on the red carpet on Saturday, however, with the premiere of their film "Die, My Love" by British director Lynn Ramsay. Fellow Briton Harris Dickinson, the 28-year-old "Babygirl" actor enjoying a lightning rise in the film industry, also showcased his directorial debut "Urchin" to widespread praise. "Be gentle with me... it's my first film so if you don't like it, break it to me nicely," he said before the screening.
'Furies'
In "Eddington", Aster offers a portrait of his bitterly divided country that parodies everyone from gun-loving southern US conservatives to virtue-signaling white anti-racism activists. Emma Stone ("La La Land" and "Poor Things") plays Phoenix's wife who gets sucked into a world of paedophile-obsessed conspiracy theorists, with one of them played by "Elvis" heart-throb Austin Butler.
Aster admitted to worrying about America's direction and set out to dramatize it in his film, whose early social satire gradually gives way to much darker material. Asked Friday if America's polarized politics and the breakdown in trust in the media could be setting the country on a path to mass violence, he said: "That is certainly something I'm afraid of. "It feels like nothing is being done to temper the furies right now," he added.
"Eddington" is competing for the Palme d'Or top prize in Cannes. Critics' favorites so far include German-language drama "The Sound of Falling", as well as experimental rave road-trip thriller "Sirat". Last year's Cannes winner -- "Anora" by Sean Baker -- went on to triumph at the Oscars. - AFP
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