Actory calls filmmakers “to keep telling stories, to continue to express themselves, to fight for who they are.”
Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal has called on members of the film industry to “fight back” and continue to express themselves in what appears to be describing them as the climate of political terror in the United States.
“f ***People who try to scare you. And fight back. This is a great way to tell a story. Don’t let them win,” said Pascal, 50, who was at the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of “Eddington.”
“Fear is the way they win, and then they continue to tell stories, continue to express themselves, and continue to fight for who you are,” he said.
“Eddington” stars Pascal as a campaign against his unstable sheriff, played by Joaquin Phoenix in a small Mexican town, where tensions boil down protests over COVID-19 mask policies and black life issues.
Pascal, known for his role in the dystopian video game adaptation “The Last of Us,” added that addressing questions about President Donald Trump’s immigration policy was “too intimidating.”
“It’s very scary for an actor in the film to talk about issues like this,” he said.
“I am an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled from the dictatorship. After my exile in Denmark, I was given enough privileges to grow up in the United States… I support those protections,” the 50-year-old told a press conference in Cannes.
Trump has begun cracking down on irregular immigration and has also been detained and moved to detain many legal US residents, causing his policies that cause rashes of lawsuits and protests.
Trump became one of Cannes’ main topics this week after he announced on May 5 that he wanted a 100% tariff on films “produced on foreign lands.”
Legendary Robert De Niro, who accepted the Cannes Lifetime Achievement Award on Tuesday, urged an audience of A-list directors and actors to resist the “Philistian President of America.”