In Hollywood they know it: only a few can take a political stand the way Javier Bardem does (who dared to say at the Oscars “Free Palestine”).
The rest, seeing the reaction of the moguls, fear for their jobs, so that what happened to Melissa Barrera on Scream 7 doesn’t happen again.
Even Susan Sarandon, who has always been outspoken about her political views, continues to be rejected precisely because of them.
From the river to the sea
You’d think a legend like Sarandon would be spending her golden years choosing her projects, but, all the same, she hasn’t worked on anything particularly high-profile since Blue Beetle.
At 79 she deserves the respect of the whole industry, and not its contempt… although she knows that holding certain views puts her at risk.
“I’ve still been turned down for films recently because there are agencies that ask people not to hire me. But that’s how the power structure works. I feel welcome among ordinary people, and certainly internationally“.
Although she says something has changed in the way people talk and feel about Israel’s genocide in Palestine, because “no one understood how much money the United States gives Israel”, it’s true that the industry keeps putting dissidents under the microscope… even if there are already so many of them that it’s impossible to stop them.
In fact, she says that Andrea Pallaoro, the director of the film premiering in Venice, The Echo Chamber, was told not to hire her, but he did it anyway.
“I’m grateful to him, because he doesn’t always heed warnings. There has been a change among the general public, but there are still people in positions of power in my industry who are Zionists and have never warmed to me. But I’ve found my family and my people and I’m fine”.
Who needs Blue Beetle 2.
