There should not many followers of Donald Trump’s dream to save lots of Hollywood with tariffs among the many dealmakers on the Cannes movie pageant — even amongst those that voted for him.
Unlike Robert De Niro — a vocal critic who referred to as Trump “America’s philistine president” on the pageant’s opening ceremony — they advised AFP they don’t have any political or private axes to grind with him.
But they see his thought of 100-percent tariffs on motion pictures produced “in foreign lands” as a “massive potential disaster” for an trade already shaken by streaming platforms.
“I don’t see any benefit to what he is trying to do. If anything it could really hurt us,” Scott Jones, the top of Artist View Entertainment, advised AFP.
“A lot of people are out of work right now, and this is not going to make it better. There needs to be method to the madness,” stated the producer, in Cannes with a Tennessee-shot Civil War epic “The Legend of Van Dorn”.
Trump’s personal “special ambassadors” to the trade, actors Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone, each signed a letter Tuesday thanking him for drawing consideration to “runaway” U.S. productions being shot abroad, however asking for tax breaks to maintain them within the United States fairly than tariffs.
A large coalition of Hollywood producers, writers and administrators teams additionally put their names to the decision.
“More than 80 countries offer production tax incentives and as a result, numerous productions that could have been shot in America have instead located elsewhere,” they stated.
The greatest American movie at Cannes is Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” — which was principally shot in Britain and South Africa.
“Hollywood movies are made all over the world,” stated Louise Lantagne, head of Quebecreatif, which helps the Canadian trade.
And producers have been going north to make motion pictures in Canada for many years “because we are cheaper and we have tax credits, great facilities and really top technical talent”, she added.
“Of course it is going to be hell if (tariffs) happen,” she advised AFP, however “for the moment it is just a tweet — even if everyone is really stressed by these declarations”.
Many, like American gross sales agent Monique White of California Pictures, suppose tariffs are “unfeasible” and Trump will quietly drop the concept.
“Tariffs are legally and technically impossible without changing the law in Congress, which doesn’t look likely,” she advised AFP.
But others fear that the injury has already been completed.
One veteran producer who voted twice for Trump, and requested not be named, stated the specter of them alone has already been “catastrophic for confidence”.
“Investors, particularly foreign ones, don’t want to get burned down the line. He’s killing us,” he advised AFP.
Even if Trump manages to push tariffs by means of, Lantagne argued it could be a “bureaucratic nightmare to rule on what is a U.S. film”, as financing and expertise is now so worldwide.
Sylvain Bellemare, who received the Oscar for sound enhancing in 2017 for “Arrival”, gave two clear examples from his personal latest work.
He is in Cannes for the purple carpet premiere of the U.S. movie “Splitsville” starring Dakota Johnson.
“It was completely shot in Quebec,” he advised AFP, however with American cash.
And final 12 months he labored on the Paramount movie “Novocaine”, which was set in San Diego however shot in South Africa with its post-production in Quebec.
American producers “do not have the money anymore to shoot in the U.S. like they used to in California, it is so expensive”, he advised AFP.
California’ Governor Gavin Newsom has been struggling to push by means of plans to double tax breaks to $750 million (670 million euros) a 12 months to stem the flight — a sum White stated “is still way too small”.
Meanwhile, Cannes’ bustling trade market is filled with international locations providing beneficiant fiscal incentives to tempt U.S. film and TV makers their method.
© 2025 AFP