Trump named Gibson, Stallone and Voight as ‘special ambassadors.’ Hollywood is still waiting for a call
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- Trump tapped Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson to be “special ambassadors” charged with boosting U.S. productions.
- But the envoys have kept a low profile since their appointment and many in Hollywood say they have not heard from them.
Just days before beginning his second term as president, Donald Trump called Hollywood “a great but very troubled place.”
Then, with his usual aplomb and bombast, he named Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson to be his “special ambassadors.” The actors would be his “eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest,” he wrote on his social media platform.
Hollywood had “lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries,” said Trump, and his trio of envoys will help bring it “back — bigger, better, and stronger than ever before!”
Three months later, many of those who work in Hollywood — industry players and officials who have been actively engaged in efforts to boost production — say as far as Trump’s envoys are concerned, it has been mostly “crickets.”
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Although the administration has taken a protectionist stance on American manufacturing and business, implementing a slew of global tariffs, it has not made any further announcements regarding the Hollywood envoys, their roles, goals or priorities to revitalize the struggling entertainment industry here.
The ambassadors themselves have, for the most part, kept a low profile.
“We have reached out to all three and never heard back,” said Pamala Buzick Kim, co-founder of Stay in LA, a grassroots campaign aimed at spurring local film and TV production.
She said the lack of communication has left many wondering whether Trump’s envoys are “just a bumper sticker, or are they going to actually understand what the needs and issues are and fight for the industry as a whole here in the States?”
A spokesperson for the California Film Commission said its executive director, Colleen Bell, had a “productive” conversation with Voight, but did not elaborate on their discussion.
An individual involved with Mayor Karen Bass’ entertainment business task force formed last year, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said they were unaware of any contact with the envoys.
Others, including the Motion Picture Assn., which represents the major media companies and streamers, declined to comment on whether they have had any interaction with Trump’s ambassadors.
“I haven’t heard of anyone having any outreach from anyone from that group,” said Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), a former film producer and a longtime advocate for the entertainment industry.
Friedman announced a new push to bolster production earlier this month with members of various Hollywood unions and 10 other members of Congress. “It doesn’t seem like a serious effort to me,” she said.
The White House declined to comment.
Trump’s announcement did put a national spotlight on the homegrown film industry, which continues to struggle to rebound following a trifecta of hits: the pandemic, labor strikes and more recently, the wildfires.
More problematic, California has lost its competitive edge as film crews continue to be enticed by generous incentives — leading to an exodus of productions to hubs like Georgia and New Mexico and countries including Australia, Britain and Canada.
Although Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed raising the amount of money allocated annually to California’s film and TV tax credit program to $750 million from $330 million, the Legislature has yet to approve the measure and the industry remains under pressure.
In the first quarter of this year, on-location production dropped 22.4% compared with the same period last year, according to a report released in April by the nonprofit organization FilmLA, which tracks shoot days in the Greater Los Angeles region.
“I think part of the problem with California is they came to take this industry for granted a little bit,” Ben Affleck told the Associated Press in an interview last week while promoting his latest film, “The Accountant 2,” in Los Angeles.
Within the industry, the surprise appointment of the three actors as the president’s special emissaries was received with a mixture of shock, bemusement and eye rolls.
“When they were announced, I think we were all curious about what those three think and what they think is the issue,” said Buzick Kim. “Because I don’t know if any of them have a history of speaking out on this front.”
Indeed, it appears that no one was more taken aback by the appointment than the actors themselves.
“I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised. Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can,” said Gibson in a statement. “Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence?” he quipped, in reference to the loss of his Malibu properties in the wildfires.
Neither Stallone nor Voight has commented publicly. Representatives for the actors did not respond to requests for comment.
As Hollywood goes through vast technological, financial and global change, the state’s cornerstone entertainment industry and its workers face a hard reality: Lost jobs may never come back.
Following Voight’s appointment as ambassador, his longtime business partner Steven Paul, an independent film producer and chairman/chief executive of SP Media Group, issued a news release saying that the actor had tapped him as a “special advisor.” Along with Voight’s fellow ambassadors, “we will be working within the industry to find ways to bring runaway productions back to America while working with the government to explore a potential federal tax incentive tied to a pro-American cultural standard, among other initiatives that support independent American productions,” the statement said.
Voight, Paul and Trump had discussed a new “America first” initiative pertaining to film production over dinner in February, according to the statement.
A representative for Paul said he was not immediately available for comment.
All three Hollywood emissaries have been avid supporters of the president: Voight attended events at both inaugurations, Stallone has visited Mar-a-Lago and Gibson, who has a history of making racist and antisemitic remarks (for which he later apologized), ridiculed Democratic candidate Kamala Harris during the election, saying she had “the IQ of a fence post.”
They all generated celebrity wattage during the 1980s (said to be Trump’s favorite decade) — Voight was nominated for an Oscar for “Runaway Train.” It was an era when mainstream action films rose to prominence in popular culture (think Stallone’s “Rambo” and Gibson’s “Lethal Weapon” franchises) that promoted the idea of American strength and masculinity.
None has been known to be particularly involved in the nuts and bolts of Hollywood production issues of tax incentives and permits.
For the last three years, Stallone has starred in the Taylor Sheridan drama “Tulsa King,” about a New York mobster who sets up shop in Oklahoma after his release from prison. Incidentally, the Paramount+ series was originally called “Kansas City Mob” and was set to film in Missouri, until it received a more than $14-million rebate to shoot episodes of the first season in Oklahoma City.
Although Trump’s announcement has largely been met with skepticism in liberal Hollywood, many see this as an opportunity to bring needed attention to an important American industry.
“I don’t know if any one of those three can move the needle but the fact that it’s being discussed at the federal level is a positive,” said Gregg Bilson, whose Sunland-based ISS Props has served the industry for three generations.
Bilson is a member of the California Production Coalition, a group that voices the concerns of the small businesses serving the film and TV industry.
Amid Hollywood’s ongoing struggles, a coalition of local production businesses has formed to advocate for increased tax credits and other incentives to improve and support filming in California.
Although few believe the actors will roll up their sleeves on the issues — at least so far — their appointment has renewed interest in the idea of implementing federal tax credits.
“If Trump is willing to fight for all these other industries with tariffs, what’s he doing for us? What’s he doing to ensure that our jobs are protected here in the United States?” asked Rachel Cannon, an actor who had a recurring role on “Fresh Off the Boat. ” She later moved back to Oklahoma City, where she founded Prairie Surf Studios and more recently Rock Paper Cannon, a venture to bring television production to Oklahoma.
Cannon, a production advocate who helped recruit “Tulsa King” and the film “Twisters” to Oklahoma, sees a federal incentive as a path to making the American film industry more competitive with nations whose generous rebates have shifted the axis of power away from Hollywood to the U.K., Canada and other countries.
“I think what we really need to be doing is banding together and asking for a federal rebate program that can stack, because that can help subsidize these productions to stay in America. States can only offer so much that you need to have some federal support,” she said.
Friedman, who has long supported the idea of a federal film tax credit, agrees.
“L.A. still has to be that dream factory, that place where people go to make it in the movies or TV. That’s incredibly important to our local economy,” she said. “But we also have to recognize that we are losing not just to other states, but we’re losing to other nations. And we have to do something about that.”
For now, everyone is waiting to see what Trump and his chosen trio will do.
“I don’t know how much Trump has really drilled into the desire for that program that he said he wants to keep Hollywood here at home,” Cannon said. “I just want to make sure there’s a policy that follows up to ensure that it happens because, throwing out a press release with nothing behind it — it’s not going to help us.”
Times Washington bureau chief Michael Wilner contributed to this report.
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