TORONTO – Just over two weeks ago, Donald Trump declared on his Truth Social account that he wanted to “make movies in America again”, adding that “the movie industry in America is dying a very fast death”. He emphatically hammered his point home with his trademark Trumpian hyperbole, declaring that other countries are concertedly luring American filmmakers and their talent away from the United States. They’re doing this with higher tax incentives of course, and according to Trump, it’s a threat to national security.
Trump quite evidently links showbusiness with “messaging and propaganda”. “Give them bread and circuses, and they will never revolt”, wrote the Roman Satirist Juvenal who was highlighting the tried and true methods used to pacify the public. Juvenal of course had ample insight on the matter, having lived under both “good” and “bad” Emperors like Domitian and Hadrian.
And while Trump’s detractors would surely like to compare him to the cruel ruthless autocrat Domitian, or the extravagant and depraved Elagabalus, as British historian Mary Beard proposed, his approach is arguably more aligned with Julius Caesar’s. Caesar was the ultimate populist whose executive overreach was a threat to key Roman institutions. Such a threat that his conspirators stabbed him 23 times in an act they believed was “tyrannicide”.
Drawing from these historical figures might shed some light on why Trump is threatening to heavily tariff films made outside of the U.S. Showbusiness helped to solidify American cultural dominance over the last 70 years, and the American “circus”, aka films and music, supported the USA’s influence abroad. His instincts are correct. The perception of an American “Empire” is inextricably linked to its show-business.
And how appropriate that Trump’s new “Ambassadors to Hollywood”, Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight, are now planning to announce their first foreign co-production treaty with Italy in August. While Italy has 37 existing bilateral co-production treaties with other countries, the U.S. has none. Canada by comparison has the most, with 60.
Italian Producer Andrea Iervolino recently announced that talks involving the “most authoritative representatives [in Italy and U.S]” will take place at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Moreover, the proposed treaty is designed to “serve as a pilot project for the development of similar treaties between the USA and all other countries around the world”.
Italian producers will be “incentivized to make Italian films in the USA, involving American stars and therefore investing in the U.S.” In turn, the Italian Government will be expected to create “support programs” for projects that strengthen cultural ties between the two countries.
Iervolino: “The world must recognize that the American entertainment industry has always been the leading one globally: it remains the main point of reference, capable of setting the rules of the industry worldwide”. In a world where “coincidence” is mere illusion, it’s not lost on me that current and past Empires are colliding for an historic film treaty. Two nations who are desperately trying to be great again, are investing in film and television.
(Image of cinema collage courtesy of Stavros Marantos)
Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix