Will Trump have a chilling effect on Hollywood? Insiders say it's already happening
Eight years ago, Hollywood proudly donned the mantle of anti-Trump resistance.
This time around, the industry's reaction can best be summed up by the tale of two Trump films.
Just two weeks before President Trump's inauguration, Amazon Prime Video made a unexpected announcement — the company would release a documentary about Melania Trump, with the first lady serving as an executive producer.
Meanwhile, another Trump-related movie — 'The Apprentice' biopic that chronicles the current president's rise to power decades ago — still has not secured a streaming deal, despite two Oscar nominations for lead actor (Sebastian Stan as Trump) and supporting actor (Jeremy Strong as New York legal pitbull Roy Cohn).
The contrasting fates show the more muted mood in liberal Hollywood. There is a general sense of unease among industry insiders about what's to come, the speed with which Trump has enacted sweeping executive orders across the federal government — and the seeming buy-in from corporate leaders — and how that all could influence future creative content.
'I don't think that people have really figured out what to do yet, how to express themselves or what's going to be the most effective,' said Tom Nunan, co-head of the graduate producers program at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. 'It's hard to be creative when you're afraid.'
Major Hollywood players were loathe to confront Trump, even before his election. Despite its much-anticipated debut in Cannes last May, 'The Apprentice' struggled to lock down a domestic theatrical distributor, particularly after Trump's then-presidential campaign threatened to file a lawsuit to stop the film.
'There was definitely reticence about getting involved with the movie after our Cannes premiere,' said Amy Baer, one of the film's producers. 'Enough to cool any potential interest we had.'
While some distributors passed outright, there were others that 'politely stepped away,' she said.
Briarcliff Entertainment then took the film on. The distributor is no stranger to controversial or political topics, as it also released Michael Moore's documentary 'Fahrenheit 11/9' about the first Trump presidency. By the time the deal closed, the team had just weeks to mount a theatrical release and marketing campaign before the election.
The film is available to rent and buy digitally through Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube. While Briarcliff is in conversation with 'various streamers,' a company spokesperson said by email there wasn't anything yet to report.
Other films with political messages have faced a similar dilemma. 'Union,' a documentary about the first organizing effort at an Amazon warehouse, has also failed to get a distribution deal, despite making it on the Oscars short list, according to the Ankler.
Even in that climate, the news of the Melania Trump documentary caught some in the industry off guard. Not only has the documentary market this year been tough, but the quick pickup seemed in contrast to the fates of other politically-minded films.
The naming of the documentary's director, Brett Ratner, also turned some heads, as it will be his first major film since he faced allegations of sexual harassment that were raised nearly a decade ago by some female associates. Ratner has denied the allegations.
Besides the hefty $40 million price tag Amazon reportedly paid to license the documentary, the news came just months after Amazon Chief Executive and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos declined to run a planned editorial endorsement in his paper of former Vice President Kamala Harris. (Bezos said at the time that not endorsing presidential candidates would help restore trust in the Post.)
Observers saw the two actions as linked, an attempt to curry favor with the new administration, and one very much at odds with how the entertainment industry mounted a public resistance against the first Trump presidency.
During the last Trump administration, the entertainment industry launched a number of colorful and rich projects that challenged the norms of the time, just as Hollywood saw cultural shifts during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Richard Nixon.
After Trump left office, films like A24's 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' and Netflix's comet satire 'Don't Look Up' explored themes of large-scale destruction and what it takes to stop it. Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's media company Higher Ground Productions last year expanded their high-profile first look deal with Netflix.
The recent fires in Southern California have also likely dampened the mood in Hollywood, which was already dour because of an ongoing financial retrenchment.
'Right now with crisis and the fires, there's a little bit of fatigue and certainly a little bit of shell shock from the speed with which the Trump administration has rolled out some of their proposals,' said Steve Caplan, principal strategist at Los Angeles-based communications firm Message, who has worked in politics, advertising and entertainment for decades. 'But people will be taking stock as the midterms and the governor's race grow nearer.'
Nunan of UCLA described Trump as a 'tipping point' or 'force multiplier' for more liberal people in the industry who were already facing difficulties due to the current production slowdown.
'Just kind of a feeling of defeat has pervaded this place,' he said. 'And it's really unfortunate.'
It's no secret that Hollywood has backed Democratic politicians for decades. Stars like George Clooney and Julia Roberts appeared at fundraisers for former President Joe Biden, with many in the entertainment industry later calling for Biden to quit the race after his disastrous first debate performance. Many of those Hollywood power players enthusiastically switched to support Harris during her campaign.
That may partly explain the current mood in Hollywood. At the Golden Globe Awards last month, which was held just weeks before Trump's inauguration, the show was largely politics-free, with host Nikki Glaser and presenters mostly straying from commentary on current events. (By the time the Grammy Awards were held earlier this month, however, award winners did not hold back.)
The long lead time for film development means that it's too soon to tell whether the new administration — and Hollywood's reaction to it — could have any effect on current or future projects. But Caplan of Message says the signs aren't good.
'If you look at the direction things are going, and the strategic decisions that are being made by brands of all kinds, companies of all types, it would indicate it's a very difficult environment to get these things done,' he said. 'We will see if creative and content is part of that, but early indications are that it will be a challenge.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Barabak: Trump could help feed hungry people. Instead he's throwing a vanity parade
On Saturday, on the streets of Washington, Donald Trump will throw himself a costly and ostentatious military parade, a gaudy display of waste and vainglory staged solely to inflate the president's dirigible-sized ego. The estimated price tag: As much as $45 million. That same day, the volunteers and staff of White Pony Express will do what they've done for nearly a dozen years, taking perfectly good food that would otherwise be tossed out and using it to feed hungry and needy people living in one of the most comfortable and affluent regions of California. Since its founding, White Pony has processed and passed along more than 26 million pounds of food — the equivalent of about 22 million meals — thanks to such Bay Area benefactors as Whole Foods, Starbucks and Trader Joe's. That's 13,000 tons of food that would have otherwise gone to landfills, rotting and emitting 31,000 tons of CO2 emissions into our overheated atmosphere. It's such a righteous thing, you can practically hear the angels sing. "Our mission is to connect abundance and need," said Eve Birge, White Pony's chief executive officer, who said the nonprofit's guiding principle is the notion "we are one human family and when one of us moves up, we all move up." Read more: Barabak: Putting the bully in bully pulpit, Trump escalates in L.A. rather than seeking calm That mission has become more difficult of late as the Trump administration takes a scythe to the nation's social safety net. White Pony receives most of its support from corporations, foundations, community organizations and individual donors. But a sizable chunk comes from the federal government; the nonprofit could lose up to a third of its $3-million annual budget due to cuts by the Trump administration. "We serve 130,000 people each year," Birge said. "That puts in jeopardy one-third of the people we're serving, because if I don't find another way to raise that money, then we'll have to scale back programs. I'll have to consider letting go staff." (White Pony has 17 employees and about 1,200 active volunteers.) "We're a seven-day-a-week operation, because people are hungry seven days a week," Birge said. "We've talked about having to pull back to five or six days." She had no comment on Trump's big, braggadocious celebration of self, a Soviet-style display of military hardware — tanks, horses, mules, parachute jumpers, thousands of marching troops — celebrating the Army's 250th anniversary and, oh yes, the president's 79th birthday. Marivel Mendoza wasn't so reticent. "All of the programs that are being gutted and we're using taxpayer dollars to pay for a parade?" she asked after a White Pony delivery truck pulled up with several pallets of fruit, veggies and other groceries. Mendoza's organization, which operates from a small office center in Brentwood, serves more than 500 migrant farmworkers and their families in the far eastern reaches of the Bay Area. "We're going to see people starving at some point," Mendoza said. "It's unethical and immoral. I don't know how [Trump] sleeps at night." Certainly not lightheaded, or with his empty belly growling from hunger. Those who work at White Pony speak of it with a spiritual reverence. Paula Keeler, 74, took a break from her recent shift inspecting produce to discuss the organization's beneficence. (Every bit of food that comes through the door is checked for quality and freshness before being trucked from White Pony's Concord warehouse and headquarters to one of more than 100 community nonprofits.) Keeler retired about a decade ago from a number-crunching job with a Bay Area school district. She's volunteered at White Pony for the last nine years, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. "It's become my church, my gym and my therapist," she said, as pulsing rhythm and blues played from a portable speaker inside the large sorting room. "Tuesdays, I deliver to two senior homes. They're mostly little women and they can go to bed at night knowing their refrigerator is full tomorrow, and that's what touches my heart." Keeler hadn't heard about Trump's parade. "I don't watch the news because it makes me want to throw up," she said. Told of the spectacle and its cost, she responded with equanimity. "It's kind of like the Serenity Prayer," Keeler said. "What can you do and what can't you do? I try to stick with what I can do." It's not much in vogue these days to quote Joe Biden, but the former president used to say something worth recollecting. "Don't tell me what you value," he often stated. "Show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value.' Trump's priorities — I, me, mine — are the same as they've ever been. But there's something particularly stomach-turning about squandering tens of millions of dollars on a vanity parade while slashing funds that could help feed those in need. Michael Bagby, 66, works part time at White Pony. He retired after a career piloting big rigs and started making deliveries and training White Pony drivers about three years ago. His passion is fishing — Bagby dreams of reeling in a deep-sea marlin — but no hobby can nourish his soul as much as helping others. He was aware of Trump's pretentious pageant and its heedless price tag. "Nothing I say is going to make a difference whether the parade goes on or not," Bagby said, settling into the cab of a 26-foot refrigerated box truck. "But it would be better to show an interest in the true needs of the country rather than a parade." Read more: Arellano: Trump wants L.A. to set itself on fire. Let's rebel smarter His route that day called for stops at a middle school and a church in working-class Antioch, then Mendoza's nonprofit in neighboring Brentwood. As Bagby pulled up to the church, the pastor and several volunteers were waiting outside. The modest white stucco building was fringed with dead grass. Traffic from nearby Highway 4 produced an insistent, thrumming soundtrack. "There are a lot of people in need. A lot," said Tania Hernandez, 45, who runs the church's food pantry. Eighty percent of the food it provides comes from White Pony, helping feed around 100 families a week. "If it wasn't for them," Hernandez said, "we wouldn't be able to do it." With help, Bagby dropped off several pallets. He raised the tailgate, battened down the latches and headed for the cab. A church member walked up and stuck out his hand. "God bless you," he said. Then it was off to the next stop. Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox twice per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Associated Press
29 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Democratic governors will defend immigration policies before Republican-led House panel
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump spars with California's governor over immigration enforcement, Republicans in Congress are calling other Democratic governors to the Capitol on Thursday to question them over policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform posted a video ahead of the hearing highlighting crimes allegedly committed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally and pledging that 'sanctuary state governors will answer to the American people.' The hearing is to include testimony from Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Kathy Hochul of New York. There's no legal definition of a sanctuary jurisdiction, but the term generally refers to governments with policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Courts previously have upheld the legality of such laws. But Trump's administration has sued Colorado, Illinois, New York and several cities — including Chicago and Rochester, New York — asserting their policies violate the U.S. Constitution or federal law. Illinois, Minnesota and New York also were among 14 states and hundreds of cities and counties recently listed by the Department of Homeland Security as 'sanctuary jurisdictions defying federal immigration law.' The list later was removed from the department's website after criticism that it errantly included some local governments that support Trump's immigration policies. As Trump steps up immigration enforcement, some Democratic-led states have intensified their resistance by strengthening state laws restricting cooperation with immigration agents. Following clashes between crowds of protesters and immigration agents in Los Angeles, Trump deployed the National Guard to protect federal buildings and agents, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused Trump of declaring 'a war' on the underpinnings of American democracy. The House Oversight Committee has long been a partisan battleground, and in recent months it has turned its focus to immigration policy. Thursday's hearing follows a similar one in March in which the Republican-led committee questioned the Democratic mayors of Chicago, Boston, Denver and New York about sanctuary policies. Heavily Democratic Chicago has been a sanctuary city for decades. In 2017, then-Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, signed legislation creating statewide protections for immigrants. The Illinois Trust Act prohibits police from searching, arresting or detaining people solely because of their immigration status. But it allows local authorities to hold people for federal immigration authorities if there's a valid criminal warrant. Pritzker, who succeeded Rauner in 2019, said in remarks prepared for the House committee that violent criminals 'have no place on our streets, and if they are undocumented, I want them out of Illinois and out of our country.' 'But we will not divert our limited resources and officers to do the job of the federal government when it is not in the best interest of our state, our local communities, or the safety of our residents,' he said. Pritzker has been among Trump's most outspoken opponents and is considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate. He said Illinois has provided shelter and services to more than 50,000 immigrants who were sent there from other states. A Department of Justice lawsuit against New York challenges a 2019 law that allows immigrants illegally in the U.S. to receive New York driver's licenses and shields driver's license data from federal immigration authorities. That built upon a 2017 executive order by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo that prohibited New York officials from inquiring about or disclosing a person's immigration status to federal authorities, unless required by law. Hochul's office said law enforcement officers still can cooperate with federal immigration authorities when people are convicted of or under investigation for crimes. Since Hochul took office in 2021, her office said, the state has transferred more than 1,300 incarcerated noncitizens to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the completion of their state sentences. Minnesota doesn't have a statewide sanctuary law protecting immigrants in the U.S. illegally, though Minneapolis and St. Paul both restrict the extent to which police and city employees can cooperate with immigration enforcement. Some laws signed by Walz have secured benefits for people regardless of immigration status. But at least one of those is getting rolled back. The Minnesota Legislature, meeting in a special session, passed legislation Monday to repeal a 2023 law that allowed adults in the U.S. illegally to be covered under a state-run health care program for the working poor. Walz insisted on maintaining eligibility for children who aren't in the country legally, ___ Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Mo. Also contributing were Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, N.Y.; Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minn.; and Sophia Tareen in Chicago.
29 minutes ago
China appears to downplay US trade deal Trump said was 'done'
HONG KONG and LONDON -- A spokesperson for China 's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday appeared to downplay what President Donald Trump said Wednesday was a "done" trade deal addressing export restrictions on rare earths and semiconductors. Speaking at a press conference, the spokesperson characterized the outcome of this week's trade negotiations in London as a "framework" to consolidate what was agreed to at negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, in May. This week's talks in the U.K. represented the "first meeting," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson did not offer further details on what was agreed this week, telling reporters, "New progress was also made in addressing each side's trade concerns." On rare earths, the spokesperson said China would issue export licenses based on "reasonable needs" and noted that "compliant applications have already been approved." Trump on Wednesday framed the talks as having reached a deal. "Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me," Trump said on Truth Social, adding that the relationship between the world's two leading economic powerhouses was "excellent." Trump said that the U.S. would get "a total of 55% tariffs" with China's tariffs set at 10%. Trump added, "Full magnets and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!)." Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick referred to the agreement as a "handshake for a framework." Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping will now have to approve the framework, Lutnick said. That step would appear to mean there were some concessions that both leaders did not give their negotiating teams authority to negotiate away. "Once that's done, we will be back on the phone together and we will begin to implement this agreement," Lutnick said. "The two largest economies in the world have reached a handshake for framework."
