Donald Trump continues to expand his administration. He names Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone as the action team for the future of Hollywood, a “great but very problematic place.”
In his usual powerful language and typography, the US President-elect announced on Thursday (January 16) on his news channel Truth Social that he intended to save the “very ailing” US film industry.
The trio of older men, all long-time supporters of his, will act as “special ambassadors for me to BRING BACK Hollywood, which has lost a lot of business to foreign countries in the last four years. BIGGER, BETTER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”
Donald Trump: Golden Age for Hollywood!
“These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will implement what they suggest,” Trump continued. “There will be a golden age again for Hollywood, as in the United States of America!”
This message comes ahead of the inauguration celebrations for the new US president, which begin this weekend. Until the actual “inauguration” (Monday, January 20th), concerts, galas and lobbyist parties are taking place all over Washington. Large companies are fighting for influence in the coming power structure.
During Trump’s first presidency, the relationship with Hollywood’s US film and media industry was characterized by tensions and controversies. The entertainment industry played its part in the construction lion Trump becoming known as a mega-maker with his reality show “The Apprentice”. But his first ascension to the White House changed the dynamic and created constant stress for most of the industry.
Now the three celebrities, all in the autumn of their careers, are supposed to sort things out in Trump’s spirit. “Asphalt Cowboy” Jon Voight (86) is a long-time supporter. He once called Trump “the greatest president since Lincoln” and became the first recipient of the National Medal of the Arts during Trump’s first term.
“The second George Washington!”
“Rambo” Sylvester Stallone (78) rejected the offer to head the National Endowment for the Arts in 2016. Most recently, however, he called Trump the “second George Washington” during a party in Mar-a-Largo.
Mel Gibson, 69, who was once blacklisted in Hollywood for anti-Semitic and racist comments, supported Trump in the last election campaign and said that Kamala Harris had “the IQ of a fence post.” He recently lost his property in Malibu in the Los Angeles wildfires. The action thriller “Flight Risk,” which he directed, will be released in theaters on January 24th.
In the BBC news service, long-time Hollywood analyst Lucas Shaw gives a cautious outlook on Trump’s attempt to simultaneously contain the film scene and lead it to new greatness: “He [Trump] sees her as an ally, and he can use her to talk about change in Hollywood. But I can’t imagine Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson trying to figure out how to improve the relationship with cable channels, make streaming more profitable, or get China to import more Hollywood movies.”
In short: a complex bundle of problems and tasks that is difficult to resolve with muscle man slogans.