Actor Robert Davi 'concerned' he won't get the call for 'Goonies 2' because of his conservative views

Fox News

21-02-2025

EXCLUSIVE — When "Goonies" actor Robert Davi was asked about the sequel to the cult 1980s classic, he shared some concerns about whether he was going to get the call to revive his character Jake Fratelli.
The 1985 adventure comedy, which follows a group of kids who discover a map to hidden treasure, is beloved to this day. Davi's Fratelli is the criminal son of Mama Fratelli and the brother of Francis and Sloth. He has a few memorable scenes in the movie, including when he attempts to sing an Italian opera. Fans of the original were thrilled this week when new reports seemed to confirm a sequel was now squarely in the works, with Steven Spielberg at the helm as producer.
But Davi's politics may complicate things, he suggested in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. He has been one of the relatively few outspoken conservatives in Hollywood in recent years, and it's that same outspokenness that Davi says could cost him a spot on the "Goonies 2" cast.
"We shall see," he told Fox Digital. "We shall see if they revive Jake Fratelli, or the Fratelli brothers in some way. I hope. I would love to be part of it because it's such an iconic film that people all over the world still reach out to me on 'Goonies.' It's interesting. It's become beyond cult status, I think."
Fans of the film still come up to him today, he said, before worrying how his conservatism could work against him in the future of the franchise.
"And the funny part about it is Dick Donner, the director, originally said when we did the film, he told me, he says, 'This is going to be like the modern day 'Wizard of Oz,'" Davi added. "And it's become that for many, many people. And I get multiple generational families that come up to me and tell me how much they love 'Goonies' and how much they love Jake Fratelli because they put the singing in there. So I do hope I'm part of it. I hope that they don't hold my politics against me and keep me from that project."
Davi explained that not getting the call was a concern because it had happened before.
"I'm concerned about it, yes," he said. "Because it's happened on other issues, other projects. And it's just, you know, I believe in free speech and not being politically correct all the time."
Fox News Digital has reached out to Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment for comment.
Davi told Fox Digital he's been proudly pro-President Donald Trump since the current president started his political career.
"I've written about it since 2015, since the day he announced, I was pro-Trump," he said.
Davi continues to cheer the president today, commending Trump for his choice of ambassadors for Hollywood.
"It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in January.
"They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!"
Davi, who said he's friendly with all three actors, welcomed the commission.
"And I think it's a terrific thing to have a committee," he said. "I also was frustrated for my own selfish reasons, of course, because I had wanted something like that. And I had mentioned it to some of the administration or in the campaign, to have a committee in Hollywood. Now, what the president has said is to bring back business, too, because we're losing so much business in Hollywood, which is true."
Davi said the political issues that drive most of his passion today are supporting Israel, bringing awareness to the war in Ukraine and, above all, calling for transparency and slashing government waste. Trump, he said, has especially mastered the last item, recently unveiling the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Elon Musk at the helm.
"Trump has been talking about getting under the hood for decades in terms of the waste that's happening in our government and around the world," Davi said. "And now we have someone that's saying, wait a second, how much better off will the American people be if we can cut out all this?"
Warner Bros. has reportedly hired Potsy Ponciroli — a film director known for the film, 'Old Henry,' — to write the script for the "Goonies" sequel. Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger and Holly Bario will produce for Amblin Entertainment with Chris Columbus, while Lauren Shuler Donner will executive produce, according to Variety. The film is still waiting on a director.