Latest news with #movieTariffs
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Francis Ford Coppola Reacts to Trump's Movie Tariffs, Says ‘Megalopolis' Is 'Selling Out Screenings' Since 2024 Election
Francis Ford Coppola is sharing his opinions on Donald Trump's proposed movie tariffs. During a Friday profile with GQ, The Godfather director addressed the 'uncertainty' surrounding the tariffs the president announced Sunday. He said that implementing these tariffs would be 'like slamming the door closed' on potential monetary gain for the United States. More from The Hollywood Reporter California Attorney General Says He's Considering a New Way to Stop Trump's Hollywood Tariff Plan Trump Finds His Class War Wedge Issue in Hollywood: Movie Tariffs Trump Fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden 'All it does is create uncertainty. People don't understand that the economy in the previous administration? There was world inflation, there wasn't [just] inflation in America,' Coppola said. 'The entire world was going through a serious inflationary trend. But the country that did the best with it — and which other countries were jealous of — was the United States. So, the United States really banked a lot of money previous to this new administration, and there's a lot of money in the country, and these tariffs are like slamming the door closed on what was a very prosperous situation.' Coppola revealed that since Trump's reelection, 'people are selling out screenings of Megalopolis,' his film which compares the fall of the Roman Republic to the future of the U.S. He said that when the movie released in September 2024, 'it was so prophetic or prescient to say America is like Rome — it's going to maybe lose its republic,' adding that its recent surge resembles that of the 1979 war film Apocalypse Now. 'It's just like what happened with Apocalypse Now. Apocalypse Now was a big flop, it got terrible reviews, everyone said it was the worst movie ever made. And yet people never stopped going to see it,' Coppola explained. 'The same thing is now happening with Megalopolis.' Ahead of the film's release, Coppola elaborated on his inspiration to create 'a Roman epic set in modern America as Rome' at the New York Film Festival. 'Today, America is Rome, and they're about to go through the same experience, for the same reasons that Rome lost its republic and ended up with an emperor. It was very prescient to do a movie about America as Rome because it's going to happen in a few months,' he said. 'And it was the same reason; the Rome of that time was so prosperous, Rome is making lots of money so the senators were actually very interested in their power and their own wealth, and they weren't managing the country,' he added. 'Well the same thing has happened here. Our senates and our representatives are all wealthy and manipulating their own power rather than running the country and then we're in danger of losing it.' Notably, Megalopolis is not available to stream online, with the director deciding to take the film on tour in theaters instead. An insider previously told The Hollywood Reporter that Megalopolis wasn't streaming because '[Coppola] wants it to play in theaters, the way it was intended,' which he reiterated in the Friday interview. The five-time Oscar winner said that his 2024 drama, which he poured $120 million into, isn't streaming 'because the film is still being shown in theaters' combined with the note that he doesn't 'want anyone to own it.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
California Attorney General Says He's Considering a New Way to Stop Trump's Hollywood Tariff Plan
Since President Donald Trump announced that he wanted to impose a 100 percent tariff on all movies produced outside the U.S., everyone from studio executives to Democratic lawmakers have been scrambling to find a way to stop him. But California's top prosecutor has a novel approach — and he may be willing to act on it. More from The Hollywood Reporter Trump Finds His Class War Wedge Issue in Hollywood: Movie Tariffs Trump Fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden I'm One of the Filmmakers DOGE Targeted at the NEH. Here's Why We're in Trouble (Guest Column) '[The president] is going after the iconic industry we're so proud of in California all because it's in a blue state that doesn't seem to be supportive of him,' Bonta told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday evening. 'Targeting a base of the population,' like this, he said, could mean 'a First Amendment basis for action.' Essentially, what Bonta is suggesting that because Trump appears to be financially penalizing people for speech he doesn't like — whether through movies and TV shows that support progressive causes or comments and fundraisers in the same vein — their First Amendment rights to express those views are being violated. Bonta said his office is already exploring how a legal action might be conducted on that basis. 'We will defend our state and our people, including Hollywood, and do a full review,' he said. Using the courts to stop Trump's Hollywood tariffs has not so far been suggested by top California lawmakers, on any basis. Earlier in the week both Governor Gavin Newsom and Senator Adam Schiff suggested redirecting the president toward the carrot of a federal tax credit for U.S. productions and away from the stick of a tariff. 'While blanket tariffs on all films would have unintended and potentially damaging impacts, we have an opportunity to work together to pass a major federal film tax credit to re-shore American jobs in the industry,' Schiff told THR. A legal maneuver to stop tariffs generally, however, would not be new for California pols. Last month Newsom and Bonta announced that they were suing Trump for placing tariffs on a host of goods that has had 'devastating impacts on the economy' and were 'creating chaos in the stock and bond markets.' Much of the complaint focused on procedural issues. Large swaths of the entertainment industry have been silent on or critical of the tariffs, with the Teamsters Union among the only meaningful constituencies expressing support. It is unclear whether a First Amendment argument against Hollywood tariffs would hold legal water, though a number of Hollywood executives and creators have privately said they are maintaining a culture of silence out of fear of financial penalties. Bonta has been busy with other anti-Trump actions of late, suing the administration this week over the halting of windfarm projects and mass federal firings, adding to more than a dozen lawsuits his office has already filed against the president. He also told THR that the deep cuts to the NEA and NEH were squarely on his radar. 'The Trump administration seems to be on a vengeance tour and staging an ongoing attack on the critical guard rails and pillars of our democracy, including our free press, our attorneys and those who have the platform of free expressions,' he said. 'The fundamental rights of free expression is something we hold dear aand is enshrined in our constitutional rights,' adding, 'and we will be reviewing these cuts to the arts and platforms of free expression to make sure they're lawful.' Bonta said that the executive branch 'doesn't have the power of the purse. It's supposed to implement what Congress decides to fund, and if he doesn't agree with it, that's a losing argument' in court. On Thursday night Bonta gathered with Democratic attorneys general from New Jersey, Illinois and Minnesota at a town hall event in Westchester County, NY, hosted by New York attorney general Letitia James, also a key cog in the legal fight against many of the White House's actions. The gathering had a large a spirited feel of a rally, as each AG took the stage to cheer of support from groups that included organized labor, veterans and educators. 'I'm fired up,' Thomas Hart, the president of IUOE Local 94, told the AG's. Entertainment issues sometimes came to the fore, as when Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison noted Trump's efforts against PBS and NPR. 'He could try to destroy public broadcasting and NPR and Big Bird,' Ellison said. 'But he wouldn't get very far if he tried to do it legally. So he's trying to do it illegally.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
CBS News
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Pittsburgh Film Office gives reviews of suggested movie tariffs
The reviews are pouring in on the plan President Donald Trump pitched to put 100 percent tariffs on films made outside the United States. No final decisions have been made, but reaction from film industry leaders has been rolling in. "There's a lot more production leaving the country than there used to be," said Dawn Keezer, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Film Office. She said the discussion around potential movie tariffs is putting the film industry in the spotlight and spreading the word about how something needs to be done to bring more production back home. "My first reaction was, wow, this is great. It's going to make everybody come home, right? It's really going to fix it. But look, who knows what all the rules are really going to mean?" Keezer said. "I personally believe that it's a lot easier to incentivize versus punish. And I would love to see it as more of what we can do to encourage work in this country, and I really worry about Southwestern Pa.," she added. Pittsburgh has long been known for its role in the film industry. "We've had over 250 film and TV projects filmed here since 1995," Keezer said. "We played home to 'Batman.' We played home to 'Jack Reacher.' We've had Tom Hanks here twice. We've had Christian Bale here three times." Keezer said 2024 was a slow year for the Pittsburgh area, but they've hit the ground running in 2025. "'Mayor of Kingstown' is here. They're wrapping up season four here in about another four to six weeks or so. And we're hoping they come back for season five and six, seven, eight, however many more we can get. We're getting ready to start production on the feature film 'Hershey,' which, of course, is great. Pennsylvania history, all about how the Hershey Company got started. We've got another feature coming very quickly and a potential TV series," she said. Keezer said they're not typically competing on a global scale, but they lose work to Canada all the time, like CBS' show "Watson," which came to Pittsburgh for four days to get establishing shots. "That show was written by a Pittsburgher, Craig Sweeney. It was set in Pittsburgh. And they're filming in Vancouver, and they're filming because it's a $16 million difference between filming in Vancouver, Canada, and filming here," she said. The White House said no final decisions have been made about the film tariffs. And how those would work is not even in the script yet. The president plans to meet with industry leaders to hash out a plan. "I'm actually going to meet with some because, you know, there's some advantages, I guess. And I'm not looking to hurt the industry. I want to help the industry," President Trump told reporters this week. "What I think President Trump was very successful in doing is igniting a much-needed conversation about the state of our film, television, streaming industry on a global scale. People forget that this is really a business," Keezer said. "What we can look at is the fact that something needs to be done. So, come up with a plan to be able to encourage the production to come back might be the plan. And maybe that's a tariff. But until you actually see all the details of something, how would you even know?" she added. While industry leaders wait for more answers from the White House, Keezer hopes state lawmakers raise Pennsylvania's film tax credit program from $100 million a year to $300 million. She believes adding a federal incentive to the states' tax incentives would encourage people to keep production in the U.S. She also mentioned how other countries have federal film offices and the U.S. does not.
