Several decades ago, Jon Voight first met Donald Trump at an Oscars afterparty. The Academy Award-winning best actor can’t remember the exact year, but he thinks it was not long after the debut of Franco Zeffirelli 1979 sports classic “The Champ.” The two men bonded over the film and Voight’s iconic performance as a former boxer looking for personal redemption by returning to the ring.
“He loves that movie,” Voight says of the president. “He also loves ‘Rocky,’ and there’s a little bit of a playfulness about which one is the better film.”
Now, Voight is working with President Trump — a politician he has fervently backed since 2016 — on a plan to stem runaway production and “give people back their dignity and their jobs,” He adds, “Something has to be done, and it’s way past time.”
For a town accustomed to bombshells, President Trump’s post on Sunday that called for 100% tariffs “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands” sent shockwaves through Hollywood and beyond. Though an overwhelming majority of the industry would concur that some type of federal help is needed, the confusing post was met with skepticism and negative headlines.
Variety caught up with Voight by phone while he was driving through what sounded like a car wash. He declined to talk about specifics or logistics, preferring to allow the draft presentation he spearheaded with producer Steven Paul to speak for itself. But the “Coming Home” legend did weigh in on the impetus behind taking the plan to the president, who Voight describes as a movie buff and pop culture enthusiast, and his surprise at the media’s negative reaction — “How about enthusiasm and gratitude?” He insists that the headlines about the tariff plan do not reflect what he is hearing from a broad spectrum of interests.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety