President Donald Trump has expressed his opinions on social media regarding the direction in which he wants journalists and comedians to go. Recently, the President once again called for Jimmy Kimmel to be taken off the air. The Guardian reports that CNN has expressed concerns over its company being sold to Paramount.
With the possibility of prominent staff members being fired, Trump plans to extend his influence to Hollywood. The President plans to remake the old action film Bloodsport as part of his influence over Paramount.
He was once a Broadway producer, and even pushed professional wrestling to the Republican National Convention, inviting 1980s icons Sylvester Stallone and Mike Tyson to the White House.
How Trump’s Paramount Influence Will Affect Hollywood
President Donald Trump is reportedly pressuring Paramount producer friends to revive mentally tough, macho-driven films. The president has, according to Semafor, “personally pressed the Paramount owner” to revive Rush Hour, the buddy-cop comedy film starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.
Donald Trump is reportedly pushing Paramount to make ‘Rush Hour 4’
(via @semafor) pic.twitter.com/zVSP20sAvN
Trump had previously announced to ambassadors about the “great but very troubled” Hollywood, and is still seemingly pushing for more changes in film. Semafor reports that film producer Dallas Sonnier predicts:
A wave of classically male-driven movies with mentally tough, traditional, courageous, confident heroes. Maybe even a tad cocky, but dedicated to honor and duty. Plus, of course, a few explosions, gun battles, helicopters, fistfights, and car chases!
In the effort to bring back the raucous comedies and action movies of the late 1980s to late 1990s, “he’s passionate, for instance, about the 1988 Jean Claude Van Damme sports flick Bloodsport.”
Trump’s imposition of tariffs on films produced outside the US also aims to boost domestic production but poses challenges for international filmmaking and Hollywood’s global market.
Bloodsport: Bland Racist Movie Doesn’t Need a Remake
The 1988 Jean Claude Van Damme flick has been criticized for not just being a bland sports flick, but also for stereotyping asians in a problematic manner. The story follows Frank Dux, an American soldier who participates in a secret martial arts tournament in Hong Kong to honor his mentor.
The toxic masculinity-charged film is filled with rampant sexism and racism, becoming a big hit in the ’80s. Here are key details about the film.
The film launched Van Damme into stardom, spawning three sequels and now an A24 remake, according to The InSneider. It is now unclear whether A24 would be involved with the film if Donald Trump wanted to be involved in the production of the film.
What do you think of President Trump’s involvement in Hollywood?
Bloodsport is currently streaming on MGM+ in the U.S.
