US President-elect Donald Trump named controversial movie legends and long-standing supporters (from right) Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight as special envoys to Hollywood in a bid to make the entertainment industry 'stronger than ever before'. Photos: AFP
Donald Trump wants to make Hollywood "bigger, better and stronger” and has cast Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as what he is calling his "Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California.”
On Wednesday, the President-elect announced on his social media site that the three actors would be his eyes and ears to the moviemaking town.
"It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!” he wrote on Truth Social.
He also called the trio special envoys. Special ambassadors and envoys are typically chosen to respond to troubled hot spots like the Middle East, not California.
US film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and, in the past week, the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the U.S. was down 26% from 2021, according to data from ProdPro.
In the greater Los Angeles area, productions were down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, the lowest since 2020. This past October, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed expanding California’s Film & Television Tax Credit programme to US$750mil annually (up from US$330mil). Other US cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have used tax incentives to lure film and TV productions to their cities. Actor Mark Wahlberg is even making plans for a Las Vegas production hub.
It’s unclear what exactly Gibson, Voight and Stallone will be doing in this effort to bring productions back to the US. Their representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump’s decision to select the actors as his chosen "ambassadors” underscores his preoccupations with the 1980s and 90s, when he was a rising tabloid star in New York, and Gibson and Stallone were among the biggest movie stars in the world.
Stallone is a frequent guest at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and introduced him at a gala in November shortly after the election.
"When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world. Because without him, you could imagine what the world would look like,” Stallone told the crowd. "Guess what? We got the second George Washington. Congratulations!”
The decision also reflects Trump’s willingness to overlook his supporters’ most controversial statements.
Gibson’s reputation has been altered in Hollywood since 2006, he went on an antisemitic rant while being arrested for allegedly driving under the influence. But he’s also continued to work in mainstream movies and directed the upcoming Wahlberg thriller Flight Risk.
Voight is a longtime Trump supporter who has called Trump the greatest president since Lincoln. – AP
