Yesterday came the out of left field news that President-elect Donald Trump had named conservative stars Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight as his ‘special ambassadors’ to Hollywood via a posting on the conservative social platform Truth Social.
Their aim is to ‘right the ship’ and return to a ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ when it comes to the film industry, in particular the big goal is to fix the issue of runaway Hollywood productions outside of the United States. The nature of their responsibilities, and more importantly their level of authority, hasn’t been made clear.
It turns out even those named were as surprised as everyone else. Speaking with USA Today, Gibson says he learned about the new gig at the same time as the rest of the public:
“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. Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence? **laughs**”
Voight also spoke about the appointment in a statement to the paper:
“I’m old enough to have touched some years of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and I’ve seen its slow deterioration since. Today, we are in pretty bad shape. Very few films are made here now, but we are fortunate to have an incoming President, who wants to restore Hollywood to its former glory, and with his help, I feel we can get done.
Now we have been through these horrible fires and our spirits are down, but we are resilient. We will help each other and we will rebuild. Love to everyone across the nation who has come to our aid.”
The U.S. film and television industries has been hit hard on multiple fronts from the pandemic to the strikes, the cost-of-living crisis, and now the wildfires in Los Angeles.