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Actor Jon Voight Met with Trump to Advocate for Hollywood Tax Incentives

Cast member Jon Voight attends a premiere for the film "Reagan" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Purchase Licensing Rights
Cast member Jon Voight attends a premiere for the film "Reagan" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Purchase Licensing Rights
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Actor Jon Voight Met with Trump to Advocate for Hollywood Tax Incentives

Cast member Jon Voight attends a premiere for the film "Reagan" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Purchase Licensing Rights
Cast member Jon Voight attends a premiere for the film "Reagan" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Purchase Licensing Rights

Actor Jon Voight met with President Donald Trump earlier this year to advocate for a federal tax credit intended to help boost film and TV production in the United States, representatives of the actor said on Monday.

The previously undisclosed meeting at the White House on February 11 is part of a Hollywood effort to secure federal assistance to fight the flight of production overseas, Reuters reported.

When asked about the meeting, a White House spokesperson said Trump "is committed to Make Hollywood Great Again, and his administration continues to explore all possible policy options to ensure Hollywood remains a potent force of American culture.”

Trump named Voight, who rose to fame following ‌his role ‌in the 1969 film "Midnight Cowboy," as one of three special ambassadors ‌to ⁠Hollywood along with ⁠Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson in January 2025.

To fight an exodus of entertainment production abroad, Voight is working with a coalition that includes the Motion Picture Association, the Directors Guild of America and unions representing actors, writers and other talent.

SP Media Group CEO Steven Paul, a film producer and Voight's agent, and SP Media President Scott Karol have proposed a 20% federal tax credit for labor ⁠costs on a film or television production in the United ‌States.

An additional 5% could be earned for ‌independent films or for filming in a disaster zone or a defined “enterprise zone.” Those credits ‌could be used in tandem with state incentives.

The goal is to ‌make the cost of domestic production competitive with Britain and other places around the world that offer tax credits, lower labor costs and world-class soundstages.

Overseas incentives have been luring movie and TV producers to locations outside the United States for years. Filming in the US ‌declined 10% in the first quarter, compared with a year ago, according to ProdPro, which tracks worldwide film ⁠and television production.

The United ⁠States accounted for roughly 38% of film and television work in the first quarter of the year, while the United Kingdom and Canada together represented nearly one-third of global production, ProdPro reported.

In September 2025, Trump floated the idea of a 100% tariff on movies made abroad as a way to bring production back to the United States. Industry advocates welcomed Trump's desire to fight production flight but have urged the president to support tax incentives.

California more than doubled its annual tax incentives for film and television production in June 2025 to $750 million. Early results show the effort helped bring some projects back to Hollywood. Shoot days in Los Angeles rose nearly 11% in the first quarter of this year, according to permitting agency FilmLA.

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Entertainment

Kanye West's Planned Russia Concerts Cancelled, Organizer Says

FILE PHOTO: Rapper Kanye West makes a point as he holds his first rally in support of his presidential bid in North Charleston, South Carolina, US July 19, 2020. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Rapper Kanye West makes a point as he holds his first rally in support of his presidential bid in North Charleston, South Carolina, US July 19, 2020. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo
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Kanye West's Planned Russia Concerts Cancelled, Organizer Says

FILE PHOTO: Rapper Kanye West makes a point as he holds his first rally in support of his presidential bid in North Charleston, South Carolina, US July 19, 2020. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Rapper Kanye West makes a point as he holds his first rally in support of his presidential bid in North Charleston, South Carolina, US July 19, 2020. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo

Two concerts by ‌US rapper Kanye West in Russia that had been scheduled for October have been cancelled, the show's organizer, Say Agency, said.

West, who is also known as Ye, had been due to perform in St Petersburg. However, a week after the concerts were announced in mid-August, the venue due to host them said it had never signed a contract with the organizers, a separate Moscow-based company.

The ‌shows had ‌remained in limbo ever since, ‌with ⁠organizers providing no clear ⁠confirmation of whether they would go ahead.

"Friends, it is with sincere regret that we inform you that the YE concerts in St. Petersburg will not be able to take place on the scheduled dates. We will issue an official ⁠statement regarding the status of the project ‌and our future plans ‌in the near future," Say Agency posted on Telegram ‌on Wednesday.

West has faced concert cancellations and ‌performance bans in several European countries this year following a series of past antisemitic remarks, including praise for Adolf Hitler, and the use of Nazi imagery.

In January West ‌apologized for the remarks, which he attributed to an undiagnosed brain injury and ⁠untreated bipolar disorder.

Had ⁠the concerts gone ahead, West would have become one of the biggest international music stars to visit Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022.

The planned gigs had drawn criticism from some Russian pro-war military bloggers, who questioned the appropriateness of hosting a US performer while Washington continues to provide military and financial support to Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the planned shows, calling them unacceptable and citing what she described as the West's "glorification" of Hitler.

Entertainment

Kenneth Branagh Examines the Scars of Iraq War in 'Atonement'

Kenneth Branagh, Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook star in 'Atonement', which examines the long tail of conflict. Rodin Eckenroth / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Kenneth Branagh, Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook star in 'Atonement', which examines the long tail of conflict. Rodin Eckenroth / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
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Kenneth Branagh Examines the Scars of Iraq War in 'Atonement'

Kenneth Branagh, Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook star in 'Atonement', which examines the long tail of conflict. Rodin Eckenroth / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Kenneth Branagh, Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook star in 'Atonement', which examines the long tail of conflict. Rodin Eckenroth / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Screenwriter Reed Van Dyk was leafing through a magazine one day in 2012 when he came across an article about the human cost of war that stopped him in his tracks.

He knew that one day he would have to bring it to the screen, but he did not feel he had the leverage in Hollywood to tackle such a weighty issue.

"I wasn't in a position to make a film about this back then," he told AFP.

That all changed after his short film "DeKalb Elementary" won critical acclaim and earned an Oscar nomination in 2018, so he went back to the New Yorker article and began work on "Atonement," which goes on limited release on Friday.

The film, based on the magazine piece, begins in 2003, when the lives of an Iraqi family and a war veteran became tragically intertwined in a Baghdad under fire.

Mariam Khachaturian, played by Hiam Abbass, and her family are trying to reach their home when their two vehicles are fired on by a Marine unit that believed it was under threat.

Three passengers die in the shooting, including Mariam's husband.

Eventually, the widow tries to leave the war behind by moving to the United States with her daughter.

Marine Lou D'Alessandro (Boyd Holbrook) also wants to move on, but the consequences of what he was involved in continue to haunt him.

The only way he feels he might be able to exorcise his demons is to seek out Mariam.

"I was so touched by this piece of writing and the story and all these characters and the way that their lives had intersected very tragically, and then by some miracle, they all intersect again a decade later," Van Dyk said.

In the movie, Lou and Mariam sit face-to-face in California, brought together by the efforts of Michael Reid (Kenneth Branagh), a journalist who had interviewed both of them about the war.

"I was very drawn to the idea of that complexity, and very drawn to the idea of being this witness at this remarkable meeting over years with two people trying to process the enormous pain and loss of very different kinds," Branagh told AFP on the sidelines of the Toronto International Film Festival.

"And then the really compelling drama of this immensely difficult thing, meeting again to feel, discuss, forget, forgive," said the British actor, whose character is inspired by journalist Dexter Filkins, author of the original article.

- 'A new context' -

"Atonement" arrives in US theaters days after the US formally ended its decades-long mission in Iraq, but with the country again at war -- this time with Iran.

"I was pulled to write about and explore these trio of people, and so that was in spite of the fact that you know it wasn't a story that headlines were echoing at the time of my writing," Van Dyk said.

But "as we're making the film, the world has sort of backslid into war everywhere. So it brings a new context to all of our work."

For Holbrook ("Narcos"), portraying the tormented Lou was "a fantastic experience," but also an intimidating one.

"The preparation for a film like this is everything, and for me it was life altering," he told AFP.

"It was something that I had to really find and discover in myself, the empathy and the courage that [his character] Lou had."

Abbass ("Blade Runner 2049" and "Succession") said she had wanted desperately to do justice to Mariam.

"I wanted to take her place and shout out my feelings and my anger towards why this should happen," she said.

"Why on Earth we keep going all the time, causing these pains to people, whoever they are, whatever they are, whatever nationality they come from, whatever conflict we're talking about."

Entertainment

Paramount Gets Court Green Light on Warner Bros Deal, Names Mattel’s Kreiz Co-CEO

The Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)
The Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Paramount Gets Court Green Light on Warner Bros Deal, Names Mattel’s Kreiz Co-CEO

The Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)
The Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)

A US judge entered an order on Wednesday allowing Paramount to close its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros, ending a months-long holdup, as the company named Mattel's Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO to help run the combined business.

US District Court Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved a Sept. 21 settlement with a California-led group of 12 states that had sued to block one of the largest media mergers in history, saying it would create a media behemoth ‌capable of driving up ‌film and TV prices.

Under the settlement, the combined ‌company ⁠must release at least ⁠30 films a year in US theaters for five years and spend an extra $300 million a year on US production. Falling short of the film quota could force it to sell Miramax.

It must also negotiate basic cable deals separately for the two companies' channels and create a board of journalists to oversee CBS News and CNN.

Groups opposed to the merger objected strongly to the settlement, with some ⁠urging the court to reject it.

Martínez-Olguín called the deal ‌a "reasonable factual and legal resolution," saying objectors' ‌hopes for the decree "to reach farther – to achieve more – do not rise to the level ‌of legal violations" warranting rejection.

A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice ‌said the settlement "resolves our antitrust concerns..., protects competition and consumer choice, and centers the needs, concerns, and futures of California workers".

The companies said in a late Wednesday statement that the deal is expected to close on October 6.

The companies also settled a Writers Guild ‌of America antitrust lawsuit, agreeing to pay $17.5 million to the guild's health fund and maintain WGA staffing levels at CBS ⁠News for five ⁠years.

MATTEL'S KREIZ TO BECOME CO-CEO

Separately, Paramount said Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz will join on October 5 and become co-CEO when the deal closes alongside chairman and CEO David Ellison, running day-to-day operations and integration.

Kreiz, Mattel's CEO since 2018, turned the toymaker's brands into films, TV shows and games, delivering "Barbie," Warner Bros' highest-grossing film ever.

The hire gives Ellison, whose background is on the creative side, a seasoned operator who steered Mattel through the pandemic and tariffs, as Paramount aims for more than $6 billion in savings from the merger.

Before Mattel, he spent much of his career in TV and digital media, co-founding Fox Kids Europe and running "Big Brother" producer Endemol.

He later ran YouTube network Maker Studios, which he sold to Disney in 2014.