Photo: President Trump presents the National Medal of Art and the National Humanities Medal to actor Jon Voight on November 21, 2019, in the East Room of the White House. Official White House photo by D. Myles Cullen.
Most of us probably had no idea that Hollywood is at risk of going down the drain like Detroit.
But it sort of makes sense. Considering that the entire U.S. is at risk of going down the drain like Detroit.
The person who brought this particular risk to our attention is none other than Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight. Voight won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a paraplegic Vietnam veteran in Coming Home (1978). He also got Oscar nominations are for playing Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in Midnight Cowboy (1969); ruthless bank robber Oscar “Manny” Manheim in Runaway Train (1985); and sportscaster Howard Cosell in Ali (2001). He’s been in lots of other films, too.
You might say, he’s a fixture, in Hollywood.
And he’s also a Special Ambassador to Hollywood, as of January 20, 2025. We have three Special Ambassadors to Hollywood — Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone — who are all presumably reporting back to President Trump, and delivering the President’s messages to Hollywood. The messages that don’t appear on Truth Social, that is.
This message appeared on Truth Social last May.
They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK — BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!
In an interview, Special Envoy Jon Voight specifically mentioned Detroit.
“It’s come to a point where we really do need help, and thank God the President cares about Hollywood and movies,” he says. “He has a great love for Hollywood in that way. We’ve got to roll up our sleeves here. We can’t let it go down the drain like Detroit.”
That’s something they forgot to do, when Detroit was going down the drain. They forgot to roll up their sleeves.
Like a lot of people, I didn’t realize that many of the movies we fork out good American dollars to see are filmed in Foreign Countries. And we’re not talking here about “Foreign Films”. We’re talking Hollywood films that are no longer being made in Hollywood.
Especially during the four years that Joe Biden was President.
In May, President Trump announced that he would be levying a 100% tariff on movies made in Foreign Countries. So far, he hasn’t done that, but as we all know, he’s been really busy stopping wars and negotiating deals on reciprocal tariffs. He’ll get around to saving Hollywood when he has time.
It would be easy to assume that Jon Voight and his fellow Special Ambassadors have been tasked with warning the Hollywood film industry about the impending 100% tariffs. It remains to be seen the tariffs will result in jacking up our theater prices and streaming subscriptions remains to be seen, but it will be worth it. Considering what happened to Detroit.
This trend of making American movies in the UK, Canada, Spain, Hungary, Czech Republic, Thailand, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, is, of course, a National Security Threat, as anyone will recognize — and as the President no doubt recognized — if they’ve watched Avatar: The Way of Water, which was filmed in New Zealand. In spite of being a threat, it grossed $2.3 billion worldwide. The movie tells the story of an alien race on a distant planet that defeats an invading army that looks suspiciously like the U.S. military.
Avatar: The Way of Water was produced by James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment, which is based in the U.S. but could probably be classified as a terrorist organization, if the President chooses to do that.
The hit movie Barbie was also filmed in a Foreign Country — the UK — but was co-produced by the Mattel, the U.S. based toy company. So it would be tempting to cut them a break, for the sake of American children.
But maybe not?
About 50% of the Mattel product line was produced in China in 2024, with most of the rest made in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Maybe Hollywood and Detroit will have plenty of company, on the trip down the drain.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.