In 2017, “Saturday Night Live” uncorked a riotous “‘Woke Jeans’ commercial” tied to the growing woke movement.
The clip proved an exception to the mainstream comedy rule. Woke was more or less off limits to “SNL,” Late-Night hosts, and film comedies, despite a dearth of material.
Insane cultural rules. Virtue-signaling politicians. Identity Politics gone wild. The comic possibilities seemed endless.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Levi&#039;s Wokes - SNL" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/adPXDTvADD0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Nothing to laugh about here. Move along. Only Comedy Central’s “South Park” regularly targeted the cultural scourge via PC Principal, trans athletes in women’s sports, and related gags.
Now, things are changing. It’s suddenly acceptable to mock the progressive overreach.
The new movie “Eddington” takes direct aim at woke, along with COVID-19 restrictions, conspiracy theorists and BLM sloganeering.
Director Ari Aster’s film isn’t one-sided or brimming with lectures. It takes us back to May 2020, a time when the George Floyd riots were raging across America and government rules made citizens mask up to stop the virus’ spread.
<div id="attachment_955565" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-955565" class="wp-image-955565 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-1024x576.jpg" alt="Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal in “Eddington” (2025) A24. Square Peg Productions. 828 Productions. IMDB." width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal in “Eddington” (2025) A24. Square Peg Productions. 828 Productions. IMDB.</div>
The story unfolds in a fictional small town in New Mexico, one about to be rocked by dueling social contagions.
It’s uncomfortable to watch and often hilarious, mocking both Alex Jones types and white teens desperate to be woke. The latter ape the progressive talking points of their big-city peers, desperate to fit in and appear cool.
Heck, one newly woke teen just wants to “get” with a pretty girl, and he’ll virtue all the signals he can to make that happen.
The film’s biggest laugh? A white teen explains his “privilege” to his parents, and his father snaps back at him.
“Are you a f***ing retard? You’re white.”
Aster’s films aren’t blockbusters, but his arthouse musings represent mainstream artistic values. And, yes, he went there. So much so that a New York Times <a href="https://x.com/matthewschmitz/status/1947120245329576009">film critic</a> literally <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/ny-times-eddington-director-mocking-blm/">cursed him out</a> for inserting those gags in his film.
<blockquote>“F*** you, Ari Aster. Really, seriously. It’s so easy to mock these things. People are still dying from COVID. We may no longer be living in a pandemic… I just don’t find it funny, and I find it really important for people to, I think white people should interrogate their f***Ing whiteness, and I think Ari Aster should start.”</blockquote>
Triggered.
<div id="attachment_955653" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-955653" class="size-large wp-image-955653" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2215538204-864x576.jpg" alt="CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 17: (L-R) Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, Ari Aster, Joaquin Phoenix and Austin Butler pose during the &quot;Eddington&quot; photocall at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 17, 2025 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2215538204-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2215538204-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2215538204-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2215538204.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Andreas Rentz/Getty Images</div>
The recent horror-comedy “Ick” from provocateur Joseph Kahn also tees-off on woke overreach. The story follows another small town where calamity strikes. This time, the danger comes from a mysterious plant-like substance that goes from benign to deadly.
The menace allows Kahn to satirize American culture, conspiracy mongers (again) and that woke mind virus. Virtue signaling takes it on the chin, as do students talking like an unproduced Lena Dunham sitcom.
It’s far from flattering.
Those eager for a deeper dive into woke excess can read “The Sandersons Fail Manhattan.&#8221; Author Scott Johnston’s biting satire follows a rich New York family caught up in the city&#8217;s progressive mania. A fancy prep school is desperate to recruit its first trans student, while the story&#8217;s patriarch must learn if his colleague is gay enough to satisfy key DEI requirements.
<div id="attachment_955657" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sandersons-Fail-Manhattan-Novel/dp/1250384788"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-955657" class="size-large wp-image-955657" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-384x576.jpg" alt="Cover Credit: St. Martin's Press" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Cover Credit: St. Martin&#8217;s Press</div>
While “Eddington” and “Ick” take shots at woke, “Manhattan” is a full-on assault against Identity Politics and its cultural tendrils. No apologies.
Even comedians can shred woke pieties from major platforms without fear of reprisal and tell jokes that the woke mob deemed off limits.
Last year, the comedy roast format roared back to life with Netflix’s “tribute” to NFL great Tom Brady.
More recently, stand-up comic Shane Gillis proved that anew. Gillis, starring in Netflix’s rowdy comedy “Tires,” is a walking, talking testament to woke’s cultural decline. The comedian got hired, and promptly fired, by “SNL” for crude comments tied to Asian culture. Rather than fade into obscurity, Gillis went back to work, rebuilding his career.
His star rose so high that “SNL” invited him to host the program – twice – without censoring his rebellious streak.
<div id="attachment_955665" style="width: 835px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-955665" class="size-large wp-image-955665" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225471382-825x576.jpg" alt="HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - JULY 16: Shane Gillis speaks onstage during the 2025 ESPY Awards at Dolby Theatre on July 16, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)" width="825" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225471382-825x576.jpg 825w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225471382-300x209.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225471382-768x536.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225471382.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 825px) 100vw, 825px" />Kevin Winter/Getty Images</div>
More recently, he emceed the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shane-gillis-destroys-the-espys-and-wokeness">ESPY Awards</a>, mocking woke sacred cows like former soccer player Megan Rapinoe, a progressive scold synonymous with virtue signaling.
“Megan Rapinoe could not make it tonight … nice.”
A few media outlets grumbled about his “problematic” material. No Cancel Culture-style punishment ensued, nor was he forced to make a “hostage”-style apology.
Now, a rare voice eager to mock the woke mindset returns to do more of the same. “Beavis &amp; Butt-head” creator Mike Judge took an early swing at woke with his failed 2009 ABC sitcom “The Goode Family.” The show proved ahead of its time, teasing a hard-Left clan who strained to be better than, well, everyone.
Now, Judge is using his “King of the Hill” reboot to satirize gender fluidity, cultural appropriation and more on Hulu starting August 4.
Judge isn’t as merciless as Johnston, but his “Hill” gags give the game away. One episode finds wokesters attacking Bobby Hill, now a young man and overseeing a fusion restaurant. The menu in question sparks cries of cultural appropriation, leaving the Hill clan confused and upset.
The show finds a resolution, albeit one that illustrates the wobbly nature of woke criticism.
Has the pop culture dam finally broken on all things woke? The re-election of Donald Trump pushed the pendulum, hard, in that direction. We’re seeing the fruits of that shift now in pop culture.
More may follow.
And, if “SNL,” late-night TV and mainstream comedies continue to avoid these juicy targets, their cultural clout will diminish even further. Just <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nyc-were-with-colbert-rally-draws-tens-of-people-even-cops-go-home">ask Stephen Colbert how that works</a>.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738

Triggered Yet? Pop Culture’s Woke Takedown Has Begun

Triggered Yet? Pop Culture's Woke Takedown Has Begun

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More than two weeks after President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on movies produced outside of the United States, Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order on Tuesday that she says will cut red tape and make it easier for entertainment professionals to film in her city.
The move comes after production has shifted dramatically toward different locations outside the city, including U.S.-based filming spots and foreign countries where it’s cheaper and easier to make movies and television shows.
“We are going to fight now,” Bass <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/movies/los-angeles-film-industry.html">said</a>. “While we push for the tax credits to be passed in Sacramento, we need to do what we can today to impact building in Los Angeles.
“The City is taking bold action to support our legacy industry,” she continued. “Keeping entertainment production in L.A. means keeping good-paying jobs in L.A., and that’s what we are fighting for.”
Specific popular locations in L.A., which she says will be easier for filmmakers to access, include the Griffith Observatory, the L.A. Central Library, and the Port of Los Angeles, among others. The directive also reduces the number of city employees who must be on-site during filming down to one. 
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=memorial&amp;utm_content=editorialmemorialday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Memorial Day Sale – Get 40% Off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
The move comes after President Trump made <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-movie-industry-is-dying-puts-plan-in-place-to-save-it">headlines</a> saying Hollywood was dying a &#8220;very fast death,&#8221; calling incentives from other countries to produce movies outside of the United States &#8220;a national security threat.&#8221; 
“Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social earlier this month.
“It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands,” he added. “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

Karen Bass

Weeks After Trump’s Film Tariff, L.A. Mayor Issues Order To Bring Productions Back To Hollywood

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One of President Donald Trump’s better qualities flies far under the radar. He doesn’t hold a grudge. That’s especially true when there’s a greater good in play.
Then-candidate Trump sparred aggressively with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly during the 2016 campaign. Late last year, Kelly endorsed Trump, speaking at a MAGA rally days before the Nov. 5 election.
The president once dubbed a presidential rival “Little” Marco Rubio. That politician is currently Trump’s trusted Secretary of State.
Now, Trump wants to make amends with Hollywood, an industry that loathes him with the heat of a thousand suns. This act of forgiveness dwarfs them all, but Trump sees movies as a vital part of the nation’s soft power as well as a critical industry.
<div id="attachment_877383" style="width: 873px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-877383" class="size-large wp-image-877383" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-877916002-863x576.jpg" alt="HOLLYWOOD, CA - DECEMBER 06: Donald Trump star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California on Dec. 6, 2016." width="863" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-877916002-863x576.jpg 863w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-877916002-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-877916002-768x513.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-877916002-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-877916002-2048x1368.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-877916002-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-877916002-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 863px) 100vw, 863px" />shalunts. Getty Images.</div>
It’s why Hollywood should swallow hard and play nice with President Trump. Or, at the very least, lend him its collective ear.
Trump’s shocking outreach began with, what else, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-movie-industry-is-dying-puts-plan-in-place-to-save-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a social media post</a>. He promised 100% tariffs on movies made outside of the U.S.
<blockquote>I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands,” he added. “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!&#8221;</blockquote>
All heck broke loose in La La Land, with entertainment news outlets spinning furiously against the vague proposal.
Call it Trump’s opening volley, part of the president’s knack for starting with big claims and negotiating from there. It’s similar to Trump’s earlier announcement that movie superstars Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight would form a group of “Ambassadors” to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-appoints-a-list-stars-as-ambassadors-to-hollywood" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revive the flailing film industry.</a>
<blockquote>It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!</blockquote>
Except the news seemed to have caught the trio by surprise and, only recently, did one of the actors, Voight, step forward with <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/jon-voight-trump-hollywood-tariff-1236390109/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concrete plans</a> on making Hollywood great again.
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/05/07/nx-s1-5389865/trump-movie-tariffs-jon-voight-tax-incentives-hollywood" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NPR described Voight’s vision</a> as “federal tax incentives, co-production treaties with other countries and subsidies for theater owners and film and TV production companies.”
<div id="attachment_861225" style="width: 987px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-861225" class="size-large wp-image-861225" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Jon-Voight-977x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 19: Actor Jon Voight speaks at Donald Trump's victory rally on January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. U.S. President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will be sworn in on January 20. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)" width="977" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Jon-Voight-977x576.jpg 977w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Jon-Voight-300x177.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Jon-Voight-768x453.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Jon-Voight.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 977px) 100vw, 977px" />Scott Olson/Getty Images</div>
The “Midnight Cowboy” star acknowledged the rift between Trump and Hollywood, adding that it shouldn&#8217;t distract from the big picture.
“I think he’s been treated unfairly. I think I have too. But what’s the difference? Who cares?” Voight asks. “I mean, there’s been a battle, but now it’s time to put that aside. And I must say, in all of the interactions we’ve had [on addressing runaway production], politics has never come up. Never.”
Hollywood, Inc. would be foolish not to listen.
Yes, the box office came roaring back in recent weeks, courtesy of hits like “Sinners” and “A Minecraft Movie.” That doesn’t camouflage the sizable issues confronting movie studios, from the death of the modern movie star to escalating film budgets.
Case in point? The upcoming “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” has a <a href="https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025/3/25/mission-impossible-8-has-a-400m-budget" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$400 million budget</a>, meaning it will have to dramatically out-perform the best films in the series to make a profit.
Hollywood’s problems would make a depressing feature.
Film and TV productions have been fleeing Los Angeles for some time. Streaming platforms have proven to be far less profitable than hoped, with Netflix emerging as the strongest money maker for now.
The DVD/Blu-ray gravy train slowed some time ago, removing a safety net for films that didn’t catch fire at theaters.
Dueling 2023 strikes hurt the industry more than anticipated, and the threat of A.I. to the creative community looms in the not-so-distant future. Social media, YouTube and other distractions now dominate the culture, making young consumers <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/deloitte-gen-z-creator-content-streaming-price-1236171227/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">less invested in Hollywood product</a>.
Meanwhile, California Democrats are <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2025-05-06/newsom-called-for-a-federal-tax-incentive-to-save-hollywood-but-will-that-actually-happen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrambling to prevent productions</a> from leaving the City of Angels for more receptive states and countries. That’s left countless Calif.-based crew members desperate for work. <a href="https://variety.com/2025/biz/news/new-york-film-subsidy-jersey-1236392167/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York just followed suit</a>.
Hollywood players hate Trump so much some wish they could erase his presence from pop culture of yore. “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/home-alone-2-director-trump-cameo-removed-1236369779/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">director said just that about Trump’s seconds-long cameo</a> in his 1992 film.
<div id="attachment_908099" style="width: 832px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-908099" class="size-large wp-image-908099" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donald-Trump-Macauley-Culkin-822x576.jpg" alt="Macaulay Culkin" width="822" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donald-Trump-Macauley-Culkin-822x576.jpg 822w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donald-Trump-Macauley-Culkin-300x210.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donald-Trump-Macauley-Culkin-768x538.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Donald-Trump-Macauley-Culkin.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 822px) 100vw, 822px" />Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images</div>
Others have alternately <a href="https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/louis-c-k-donald-trump-insane-bigot-dangerous-1201723679/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dubbed him Hitler</a> or <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/celebrities-wished-trump-dead/">wished him dead</a>. That sentiment may be hard to overcome.
The perfect storm of problems facing Hollywood may be too much for any presidential plan to solve. Gen Z’s drift away from movie watching can’t be assuaged by new policies. Stars still insist on <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/fantastic-four-rachel-zegler-problem/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insulting potential customers</a>, from “Snow White’s” Rachel Zegler to the cast of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
The two sides need to put aside their differences for the greater good. A healthy film market impacts more than just studio executives, theater owners and various crew members.
Hollywood movies send a message to the world. Films like “The Pursuit of Happyness” (2006) showcase the power of the American capitalist system. Others promote values like individual liberty (2012’s “Still Mine”) and triumphs over adversity (2016’s “Hidden Figures”).
It’s why China invests so heavily in its movie industry. The Communist nation wants to put the nation’s best foot forward on the big screen, removing sequences from foreign films that cast the country in a negative light.
President Trump may not make Hollywood great again. He could help the industry thrive against all odds.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Trump Wants To Make Hollywood Great Again — Will The Industry Listen?

Jon Voight

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Sylvester Stallone

The following is an edited transcript of an interview with Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham and Daily Mail columnist Maureen Callahan on the growing, public PR battle between actress Blake Lively and film director Justin Baldoni. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/blake-lively-and-justin-baldoni-s-epic-hollywood-battle-2-8-25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Catch the full interview on Morning Wire</a>.
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Actress Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni are continuing their public feud over their hit film, &#8220;It Ends With Us,&#8221; with both sides filing lawsuits. But even more than a legal battle, this has become an all-out PR war with leaked texts, calls, and film footage, as well as allegations of sexual harassment and spousal jealousy. The first trial date is set for March. Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham speaks with award-winning journalist, author and Daily Mail columnist Maureen Callahan to get insight into a drama only Hollywood could produce.
MEGAN: Thanks for being here, Maureen. So, especially for those of us who are kind of catching up with this story, I&#8217;m wondering if you can give us the 10,000 foot summary of this scandal?
MAUREEN: Sure. So about a month ago, the New York Times ran a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/business/media/blake-lively-justin-baldoni-it-ends-with-us.html?searchResultPosition=9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blockbuster</a>, I think 4,000 word piece, in which Blake Lively was alleging her director and co-star Justin Baldoni, on their film “It Ends With Us,” had subjected her to almost ritualistic sexual harassment — and that she suffered so greatly, it was a concerted effort in which he involved multiple people to not only harass her while filming, but then once the movie was about to be released, orchestrated an online smear campaign against her. A couple of weeks later, Baldoni&#8217;s lawyer, Bryan Freedman filed a countersuit in which he alleged that the text messages obtained by the New York Times had been selectively edited. They sort of threw open their document dump, which seemed to absolve Justin of many of the things that Lively has been claiming. Nonetheless, these two are now locked in a bitter, bitter, expensive lawsuit. Baldoni is countersuing Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for $400 million, which is, I believe, what he thinks their estimated net worth is. And the trial is tentatively set for March 2026.
MEGAN: So, before we get to some of the legal ramifications, there have obviously been a lot of leaks, a lot of shifting in public loyalties back and forth. At least that&#8217;s been my experience. At the outset, I was kind of on Team Justin. And then I thought, “Well, wait a minute. That New York Times piece was really persuasive.” But then Justin Baldoni&#8217;s team released some new audio leaks and they sort of shifted the game a little bit. What&#8217;s your sense right now of who&#8217;s on top in the PR war?
MAUREEN: I think Blake Lively is suffering mightily right now and the collateral fallout is affecting not just her husband, Ryan Reynolds, but her so called “Dragon,” her BFF Taylor Swift, who it&#8217;s reported has been taking a step back from her friendship with Blake because she doesn&#8217;t want any of this runoff affecting her career. Justin&#8217;s team has been very smart in what they&#8217;re leaking and when. They leaked footage of the two of them while filming a scene, rehearsing a scene, in which they were dancing very closely and Justin had his mic on. And so they&#8217;re working out how they&#8217;re going to do this scene. Justin is saying, “I think we should be kissing.” And Blake says, “No, I think we should be talking. I think that&#8217;s even more intimate.” And Justin says, “Okay.” So that sort of takes some wind out of her sails. They also released another lengthy voice memo that Justin had sent to Blake in which he&#8217;s praising her to the high heavens and saying he has let her down by not taking all of her notes, and she&#8217;s so brilliant and so smart, and he&#8217;s going to do everything he can to make her happy. Again, a counter narrative to Lively&#8217;s claims that he was doing everything possible to sabotage her and make her feel unsafe on that set. So I think right now Baldoni&#8217;s team is in the power position, but that of course could shift in another few days.
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MEGAN: Well, you know, it seems like there was a moment where Lively could have disengaged and, and just moved on. And this would have been something of a blip on Hollywood&#8217;s gossip radar. Why do you think she escalated to a lawsuit that opened up so much more of these internal communications?
MAUREEN: This is such a great question, Megan, because if you think about it the damage has already been done to her. Think about it, there are like five female directors working in Hollywood today. What male director is going to put himself and his career and reputation at risk by working with Blake Lively, who launched this all out assault on a guy who is not as well capitalized as she and Ryan are, who doesn&#8217;t have the reputation, the lengthy career — who on earth would risk it? And I have to wonder why she did it, because like you said, it could have just been, you know, a thing where they butted heads, they didn&#8217;t see eye-to-eye, but they each walked away clean to do their next project. I have a theory — and it is just my own theory and supposition — that something went on between these two. Perhaps it was an unrequited crush on Blake&#8217;s part and Justin didn&#8217;t respond in kind; perhaps they did in some way have a physical relationship outside of the filming and that went south. There&#8217;s something about this that just feels way too intense, way too personal. I think the real undergirding, the real story is why she did this.
<div id="attachment_873967" style="width: 860px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-873967" class="size-large wp-image-873967" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1928882045-850x576.jpg" alt="JERSEY CITY, NJ - JANUARY 12: Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively are seen on the set of 'It Ends with Us' on January 12, 2024 in Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)" width="850" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1928882045-850x576.jpg 850w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1928882045-300x203.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1928882045-768x521.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1928882045.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px" />Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images</div>
MEGAN: Well, I&#8217;m glad that you bring that up, because I do want to talk a little bit about those messages between Baldoni and Lively. And I know some media outlets characterize them as “flirty,” I don&#8217;t know that I necessarily saw them that way, but I at least saw them as very familiar, let&#8217;s put it that way.
MAUREEN: I kind of read them as flirty — even the text messages between Justin and Ryan Reynolds. Look, if anybody listening wants to get a taste of what it&#8217;s like to deal with Hollywood people, this is it. And it&#8217;s really quite vile because they&#8217;re just mooning over each other. I mean, they&#8217;ve just met and Ryan hasn&#8217;t responded to Justin&#8217;s text for two weeks and then he replies and says, “I happen to adore you, Justin.” It&#8217;s like, buy me dinner first before you start talking to me like this. It&#8217;s disgusting. And, you know, Justin and Blake are having a very familiar texting relationship that, whether they were that familiar, whether it was this sort of hastened intimacy because they were working so closely together so quickly, who knows? But now we&#8217;re going to see. I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s any slight that&#8217;s not going to be weaponized. I just read an item yesterday that Blake Lively blew a good chunk of the movie&#8217;s budget on her wardrobe. I mean, this is how petty we&#8217;re going to get. I love it, but it is the strangest Hollywood war. I&#8217;m going to say it&#8217;s maybe the biggest one since Brad versus Angie.
MEGAN: Do you think Lively and Reynolds, at least as a couple, their image — like maybe Reynolds individually, Lively individually — do kind of come back from this? Because, you know, Brad and Angelina eventually did. But does their image as this blissful “It” couple bounce back?
MAUREEN: Well, Megan, first of all, when I said Brad versus Angie, I meant like when they divorced, when they separated, and it was like the bombshells were going off: “He was abusive. She was out of her mind.” This will be the thing that shows the strength of their marriage. I&#8217;m very cynical, so I really do believe that if this blowback against Blake gets to be too much, Ryan&#8217;s going to cut her loose. I think Ryan Reynolds has his eyes firmly set on becoming a billionaire, and I believe he&#8217;ll get there. And I don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s going to stand for his reputation getting muddied in all of this, even though he&#8217;s already in it with these lawsuits and all of these text messages and these documents. And he was famously brought in by Blake to write a whole scene in the movie and be some sort of unpaid advisor. So I think that&#8217;s really where you&#8217;re going to see the strength of this countersuit against Justin, if it really does sort of crater their marriage.
MEGAN: Well, maybe just a couple more questions, Maureen. One of them is that The New York Times has come under a lot of scrutiny for the role it played in sort of rehabilitating Lively&#8217;s claims when she was on the outs in terms of public affection. I have seen some claims that they handled the coverage in a biased way, clearly working hand in glove with Blake Lively&#8217;s team. What do you think? Is there any validity to that claim?
MAUREEN: Yes, I think there is. It seems as though, perhaps, they didn&#8217;t do their full due diligence. I think it was probably seen, initially, as a strength, but is now a liability. I forget how many bylines were on that piece, but one, Megan Twohey, was one half of the team at the Times that broke the Harvey Weinstein story and became synonymous with MeToo. They wrote a book. They made a lot of money off of it. And I think the Times is already struggling in many ways reputationaly and this does not help. If I recall correctly, I could be mistaken so forgive me, but if I recall correctly I think they went to Baldoni&#8217;s team and gave them two hours to respond to that laundry list of accusations. So if that&#8217;s true, it&#8217;s not a great look. [NOTE: <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/justin-baldoni-lawsuit-blake-lively-ryan-reynolds-nicepool-new-york-times-metadata-1236293856/">Some outlets</a> report The New York Times gave Baldoni approximately 12 hours to respond.]
<div id="attachment_873969" style="width: 804px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-873969" class="size-large wp-image-873969" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1925904572-794x576.jpg" alt="JERSEY CITY, NJ - JANUARY 12: Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are seen on the set of &quot;It Ends with Us&quot; on January 12, 2024 in Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)" width="794" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1925904572-794x576.jpg 794w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1925904572-300x218.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1925904572-768x557.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1925904572.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 794px) 100vw, 794px" />Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images</div>
MEGAN: Well, you kind of intuited where I was going to go next. And that was the role that MeToo has played in this, with these claims, that it was a sexual harassment issue. So, do you think on a broader level, the tide has turned? And maybe this is because of Johnny Depp. Because before, I think there was a period of time when even the public was willing to say, “Hey, I don&#8217;t know that that&#8217;s a MeToo allegation.” I&#8217;m thinking of something like Aziz Ansari where there was a lot of back and forth debate about that. In this case, it seems like some of these men in Hollywood who don&#8217;t even possess the power of some of these women are now willing to challenge these MeToo allegations. So, do you think this sort of shifts the balance on where we are with MeToo?
MAUREEN: Yes, I think this case is very important in terms of where we are and where we&#8217;re going. I agree with you. The Aziz Ansari thing was ridiculous. If that allegation had come out maybe a year later, his career would not have been destroyed. I think we are now seeing a pendulum swing back towards sanity where just because a woman says a man did something to her, it&#8217;s not automatically received as gospel, that the man does get a chance to tell his side of the story and back it up with documents, receipts, screenshots, texts, voicemail, and it certainly helps when you have movie footage. So I think this is going to be an interesting case in terms of the cultural corrective that is underway.
MEGAN: Okay. Well, last question: Any predictions for the March trial?
MAUREEN: You know, I&#8217;ll be amazed if it gets there. Because I would think saner heads would prevail, and both sides should really just drop it and walk away. Justin Baldoni&#8217;s lawyer has already said he&#8217;s pretty much bankrupted by this, financially and emotionally. I don&#8217;t know what good it does for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds to have this be the headline of their careers for the next calendar year, and that&#8217;s just to start. So, I think it&#8217;ll be interesting to see if it ever really comes to fruition, and if there is some sort of settlement reached, who pays who? This is really just Hollywood writ large, right? The egotism, the narcissism, the ridiculous sums of money, the victimization, the weaponization perhaps, we don&#8217;t know yet, but perhaps of MeToo, it&#8217;s such a great, weird stew of stuff.
MEGAN: Well, thank you Maureen. That was enlightening. I kind of can&#8217;t wait to see where this goes next.
MAUREEN: I know, it&#8217;s like every day we get another tidbit. Yes, thanks for having me.
* * *
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/blake-lively-and-justin-baldoni-s-epic-hollywood-battle-2-8-25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Catch the full interview on Morning Wire</a>.

Celebrity Sightings In Jersey City – January 12, 2024

‘Way Too Personal’: The Escalating PR War Between Blake Lively And Justin Baldoni

actress

Blake Lively

interview

MeToo

Morning Wire

Ryan Reynolds

Sexual Harassment

The New York Times

Hollywood is on fire, literally and figuratively.
Dueling strikes shut the industry down in 2023 and it hasn’t fully bounced back. The pandemic chased viewers to the comfort of their couches, pummeling the theatrical experience. YouTube creators are luring eyeballs away from network TV at a fraction of the price point, as are social media platforms and video games.
There’s no better time for a Hollywood Plan B. Could that involve the Lone Star State?
Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey sure think so.
The “True Detective” alums joined forces for <a href="https://x.com/McConaughey/status/1884652597618872439" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a new video campaign</a> tied to Texas-based filmmaking. They’re playing their iconic characters from the HBO series, but this isn’t fiction.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Texas stories deserve a Texas backdrop. That’s why I teamed up with Dennis Quaid, Woody Harrelson, Billy Bob Thornton, and Renée Zellweger for True to Texas. It’s time to bring film and TV productions home! <a href="https://t.co/iMpRMRx2Hj">pic.twitter.com/iMpRMRx2Hj</a>
&mdash; Matthew McConaughey (@McConaughey) <a href="https://twitter.com/McConaughey/status/1884652597618872439?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It’s a bona fide plea for more Texas movie making. The Oscar-winning actor from “Dallas Buyers Club” starts the pitch.
“Hollywood is a flat circle … this industry is like somebody’s memory of an industry, and the memory’s fading. I’m talking about a whole new hub for film and television. A renaissance. A rebirth.”
“A small fraction of Texas budget surplus to turn this state into the new Hollywood,” Harrelson adds.
“If all these other states are going to offer an incentive, then that’s where we’re going to keep going. I just wish we could bring some of these productions home to Texas.” So says fellow Oscar winner Renée Zellweger.
The spot also features fellow Hollywood heavyweights like Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Quaid.
<div id="attachment_870649" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-870649" class="size-large wp-image-870649" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2185185061-864x576.jpg" alt="DENVER, COLORADO - NOVEMBER 16: Woody Harrelson attends the Global Down Syndrome Foundation's 16th Annual Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show at Sheraton Downtown Denver Hotel on November 16, 2024 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Tom Cooper/Getty Images for Global Down Syndrome Foundation)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2185185061-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2185185061-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2185185061-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2185185061.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Tom Cooper/Getty Images</div>
This isn’t happening in a vacuum.
California has been shedding TV and film projects for some time. States like Georgia and New Mexico teem with new projects, generated in large part by tax-friendly policies and rebates.
That doesn’t factor in the high price of living in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s struggling state. Have you filled up a car in California these days?
The timing couldn’t be better on the cultural front. Entertainment production no longer caters to the coasts. Joe Rogan moved the comedy epicenter from New York City to Austin, Texas, with his Comedy Mothership club and its unwoke ethos.
<div id="attachment_870669" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-870669" class="size-large wp-image-870669" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2179800231-864x576.jpg" alt="AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 20: Joe Rogan looks on in the Paddock prior to the F1 Grand Prix of United States at Circuit of The Americas on October 20, 2024 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Mark Sutton/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2179800231-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2179800231-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2179800231-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2179800231.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Mark Sutton/Getty Images</div>
Stand-up superstars like Tom Segura, Ron White, Tony Hinchcliffe now call Austin home. Others, like Tyler Fischer and Roseanne Barr, also decamped to the state, at least part time.
To many, Hollywood is no longer exclusively thought of as the sole movie-making hub. Other cities and states are leaning into that new normal.
Nashville productions are on the rise, from Daily Wire exclusives to projects via Universal Music Group Nashville. The latter just created a new production arm with plans to create film and TV projects. Oscar winners Jamie Lee Curtis and Nicole Kidman are shooting Amazon Prime’s “Scarpetta,” an episode drama in Nashville <a href="https://wbkr.com/nicole-kidman-jamie-lee-curtis-to-film-crime-series-in-nashville/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">through February</a>.
Superstar Mark Wahlberg wants to make Las Vegas “Hollywood East.” The “Flight Risk” star hopes to spearhead <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-wahlberg-wants-las-vegas-210015408.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAN2tOcOAJ2iSv_bSzRVvQNxMSfDXob7TqLVBSfH-dAbH2LxgVos7cZmbLJP9TXKzjd8Dc5xVU61GoT2BkUlWfHSha5E0Pzy4WJGT5aTGgu1M7N2s7DI5UKFFL82FVLnsyIiSQGObDFD8LL-8F5V9xScC2W3v_SZ778RVSQj6u_yy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a $1.8 billion Sony studio</a> in the state to compete with Hollywood.
“I think ultimately that would be the goal. <a href="https://www.fox5vegas.com/2024/10/18/mark-walhberg-wants-california-movie-studios-follow-his-move-nevada/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">They all used to make movies right there in LA</a> and people don’t do it anymore,” Wahlberg said.
He’ll have some company.
Warner Bros. Discovery also has its eye on Las Vegas. Warner Bros. Studios Nevada, a plan dependent on the state’s tax credit structure, would bring more filmmaking to the state.
So why not Texas? 
The state offers endless vistas worthy of a cinematic closeup. Small Town USA? Check! Big, bustling urban centers like Dallas? Covered. Texas’s red-state policies mean cost-of-living issues won’t upend productions, and it’s far less dysfunctional than the Golden State.
And top-tier stars are singing the state’s praises in a very public forum. When a Dennis Quaid, a star for nearly 50 years, suggests a state needs a close-up, people should listen.
Previously, Owen Wilson and Glen Powell joined with McConaughey and Thornton to buoy Texas filmmaking with a similar 2023 video.
<div id="attachment_870645" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-870645" class="size-large wp-image-870645" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2189988716-864x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 14: Billy Bob Thornton attends the SAG Nom Comm screening of &quot;Landman&quot; at DGA Theater Complex on December 14, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Paramount+)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2189988716-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2189988716-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2189988716-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2189988716.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Paramount+</div>
<a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/markets-festivals/yellowstone-mayor-of-kingstown-texas-film-production-1236004446/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The infrastructure is in place</a>, too. The state approved a $200 million grant last year, that runs through August, to entice more projects. That got Taylor Sheridan’s attention.
The biggest name in episodic TV chose Texas for both his home and a sprawling real estate enterprise planning to host film and TV productions down the short road. His latest smash, Paramount+’s “Landman,” filmed in Fort Worth, Texas.
<a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/2025/01/31/matthew-mcconaughey-woody-harrelson-push-for-more-texas-film-incentives-in-ad/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sheridan made a personal pitch for Texas</a> last fall before the state’s Senate Finance Committee.
“We desperately need the employees. I would much, much, much rather hire a Texas local than fly in somebody from another state,” Sheridan said.
Some Texas-based Republicans have split feelings about the Hollywood influx. Newsweek reports several officials <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/matthew-mcconaugheys-push-hollywood-texas-divides-republicans-2023842" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recoiled at the thought</a> of Hollywood’s progressive values inundating the state.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller put the brakes on the plan via X. He’s all for Texas-based productions but <a href="https://x.com/MillerForTexas/status/1884987688182268146" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opposes tax rebates to make it possible</a>.
Hollywood is dying. Productions can&#8217;t get out of California fast enough. Texas will benefit without subsidizing the folks that brought us woke, anti-Christian bigotry, socialism, transgenderism, etc.
Hollywood diehards may resist the Texas two-step. Loyalists could prefer to bring production back to La La Land, especially to help those impacted by the wildfires. Others may rebuke red-state values infecting their progressive industry.
Pragmatism may rule the day. If major stars like Quaid, McConaughey and Zellweger want more Texas-based shoots, and the costs aren’t prohibitive, we may be hearing, “Action!” more and more in the Lone Star State.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Clemson v Texas – Playoff First Round

‘A Whole New Hub’: Movie Stars Stump For Filming Deep In The Heart Of Texas

'A Whole New Hub': Movie Stars Stump For Filming Deep In The Heart Of Texas

actors

Matthew McConaughey

Texas

Woody Harrelson

David Lynch, the writer-director whose hallucinogenic films and television shows such as “Eraserhead,” “Mulholland Drive,” and “Twin Peaks” reveled in dreams and darkness, in revealing the mysterious and the sinister teeming just below the surface of ordinary white-picket-fence America has died. He was 78.
New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael called David Lynch “the first populist surrealist — a Frank Capra of dream logic” for his keen ability to bridge mainstream filmmaking and arthouse success. 
Lynch’s family <a href="https://www.facebook.com/davidlynchofficial/posts/pfbid04LuZED6SrWevszQ1UZoEED6x95znKc7scJxXFL5B1icBKgCiu4T2qYLHsErFNzELl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> his death on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/davidlynchofficial/posts/pfbid04LuZED6SrWevszQ1UZoEED6x95znKc7scJxXFL5B1icBKgCiu4T2qYLHsErFNzELl?rdid=581XjlBlb3GqM8zP#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his Facebook page</a> on Thursday. “There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us,” they wrote. “But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”
<div id="attachment_860901" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-860901" class="size-large wp-image-860901" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-52974879-865x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 01: Filmmaker David Lynch poses for photos in his private movie studio on September 1, 2004 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilles Mingasson/Gettty Images)" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-52974879-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-52974879-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-52974879-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-52974879.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />Gilles Mingasson/Getty Images</div>
Lynch revealed in an interview with <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/sight-sound-september-2024-issue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sight and Sound</a> in 2024, that he was suffering from emphysema after many years of smoking, was housebound, and could only direct any future films remotely. He later posted <a href="https://x.com/DAVID_LYNCH/status/1820561669216686367/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a statement</a> on X amid speculation about his health and career, writing, “I am filled with happiness, and I will never retire.”
Lynch’s smoking habit was almost literally lifelong. A native of Missoula, Montana, Lynch grew up in rural Idaho and Washington and began smoking at the age of 8. He stopped smoking in 2022 after needing supplemental oxygen for anything more difficult than walking across a room and in an interview with <a href="https://people.com/david-lynch-smoking-at-age-8-now-he-needs-oxygen-copd-exclusive-8743594" target="_blank" rel="noopener">People Magazine</a> last year, Lynch said although the consequences of smoking have been “a big price to pay, I don’t regret it. It was important to me. I wish what every addict wishes for: that what we love is good for us.”
A painter turned avant-garde filmmaker, Lynch debuted his first feature “Eraserhead” in 1977. Shot over several years, the black-and-white surrealist horror film tells the story of a bewildered man grappling with the anxieties of fatherhood after the birth of his sickly, grotesque child—a mutant being that scarcely resembles a human infant. 
Initially debuting to limited fanfare, “Eraserhead” gradually built a devoted following through extended runs as a midnight movie, solidifying its status as a cult classic.
Released three years before Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic “The Shining,” “Eraserhead” left an indelible mark on the influential director, who cited Lynch’s debut feature as one of his favorite films. So captivated was Kubrick by Lynch’s unnerving vision that he required his actors and film crew to watch “Eraserhead” before filming started on “The Shining” so that everyone on set was on the same tonal page. 
Another enthusiastic fan was comedian Mel Brooks, who, after seeing “Eraserhead,” hired Lynch to direct his first true Hollywood picture, “The Elephant Man” in 1980. Brooks called Lynch “Jimmy Stewart from Mars,” for his spectrum of wild ideas and dressing as if he had stepped right out of the 1950s, with a messy pompadour and simple outfits of slacks and white dress shirts worn without a tie, buttoned all the way to the top.
<div id="attachment_860893" style="width: 866px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-860893" class="size-large wp-image-860893" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-451084295-856x576.jpg" alt="Actor John Hurt in a scene from the film 'The Elephant Man', 1980. (Photo by Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection/Getty Images)" width="856" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-451084295-856x576.jpg 856w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-451084295-300x202.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-451084295-768x517.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-451084295.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 856px) 100vw, 856px" />&#8216;The Elephant Man&#8217;, 1980. (Photo by Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection/Getty Images)</div>
“The Elephant Man” proved to be Lynch’s mainstream breakthrough. A poignant film (also in black-and-white) starring Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt, and based on the true story of a severely deformed British man, the movie garnered widespread acclaim and became a hit at the box office.  It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including two for Lynch.
Lynch’s films were not always successful, however, or well received. After receiving several directing offers post “Elephant Man” and turning down an opportunity from George Lucas to direct “Return of the Jedi,” Lynch opted instead to make an adaptation of the space opera “Dune” from the science-fiction novel by Frank Herbert. The attempt to make a ‘Star Wars for adults’ was a $40 million fiasco and the movie was named by Roger Ebert as the worst of 1984. Plans for two sequels were quickly scrapped.
Lynch roared back in 1986 with his one of his signature movies, “Blue Velvet,” an erotic detective story that peels back the placid exterior of a sweet-as-cherry-pie small town in North Carolina to reveal a seething underworld of dark surreal violence and depravity.
<div id="attachment_860885" style="width: 752px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-860885" class="size-large wp-image-860885" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-110866344-742x576.jpg" alt="LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 24: Director David Lynch and Isabella Rossellini attend ShoWest Convention on February 24, 1988 at Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)" width="742" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-110866344-742x576.jpg 742w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-110866344-300x233.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-110866344-768x596.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-110866344.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 742px) 100vw, 742px" />Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images</div>
The movie plays as if directed by a psychopathic Norman Rockwell and polarized critics for its unsettling blend of innocence and white-picket-fence whimsy, brimming over with sexual violence and perverse evil. 
Mr. Lynch’s follow-up, the highly controversial albeit forgettable, “Wild at Heart,” a sexed-up, graphically violent road movie starring Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage as a young couple on the run in the American Southwest, won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1990. It struck many critics as erratic, cartoony, self-indulgent and, despite some inspired moments, pointless.
In 1990, Lynch with co-creator Mark Frost ushered in a network TV revolution with their cutting-edge series, “Twin Peaks.” The show is an eerie mystery drama about the murder of high school student Laura Palmer and the investigation by an eccentric FBI agent played by Kyle MacLachlan. It is the spiritual spinoff of “Blue Velvet” with Lynch again illuminating the sinister underbelly of Apple Pie America, pitting ordinary good people against depraved and supernatural evil — Andy Griffith vs. Charles Manson — in perhaps Lynch’s most popular work.
<div id="attachment_860889" style="width: 849px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-860889" class="size-large wp-image-860889" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-139467895-839x576.jpg" alt="TWIN PEAKS - Pilot - &quot;Northwest Passage&quot; - Airdate: April 8, 1990. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)PRODUCTION SHOT OF KYLE MACLACHLAN, MICHAEL ONTKEAN AND DAVID LYNCH" width="839" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-139467895-839x576.jpg 839w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-139467895-300x206.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-139467895-768x527.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-139467895.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 839px) 100vw, 839px" />TWIN PEAKS &#8211; Pilot &#8211; &#8220;Northwest Passage&#8221; &#8211; Airdate: April 8, 1990. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)</div>
After 1991, however, it seemed as though Lynch could do nothing right. Viewership for season two of “Twin Peaks” fell off a cliff after the ABC Network insisted on an early season reveal of Laura Palmer’s killer and as Lynch himself seemed to lose interest in the show. Throughout the early 90s, he continued to produce multiple TV shows that were unsuccessful and disappeared from television almost immediately.
Lynch then made “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,” a 1992 film companion to the television series, which was ravaged by critics, with Vincent Canby of the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/29/movies/review-film-one-long-last-gasp-for-laura-palmer.html">writing</a>, “It’s not the worst movie ever made; it just seems to be.”
Lynch’s lackluster 1997 neo-noir thriller “Lost Highway” a few years later didn’t fare much better.
A turn came in 1998 when Lynch improbably took on the challenge of directing a G-rated Disney movie and created what he called “my most experimental movie”, saying “Tenderness can be just as abstract as insanity.”
“The Straight Story” is a one of Lynch’s finest films. Based on the true story of 73-year-old Alvin Straight, who in 1994 rode his lawnmower more than 300 miles from Iowa to Wisconsin to reconcile with his ailing and estranged brother. It is a profoundly spiritual film about family, forgiveness and healing that celebrates America and the simple, unsentimentalized beauty of the rural Midwest. Perhaps the least likely to do it, Lynch shows the flip side of &#8220;Blue Velvet&#8221; and reframes America’s heartland as wholesome and its people as good and caring and true in a supremely moving triumph.
<div id="attachment_860895" style="width: 892px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-860895" class="size-large wp-image-860895" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-543905970-882x576.jpg" alt="American director David Lynch (C) and actor Richard Farnsworth (R) on set of the film The Straight Story. (Photo by CHRISTOPHE D YVOIRE/Sygma via Getty Images)" width="882" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-543905970-882x576.jpg 882w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-543905970-300x196.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-543905970-768x502.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-543905970.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 882px) 100vw, 882px" />The Straight Story. (Photo by CHRISTOPHE D YVOIRE/Sygma via Getty Images)</div>
Then came “Mulholland Drive,” Lynch’s much-heralded masterpiece regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, a poison-pen letter to Hollywood wrapped in Nancy Drew mystery.
That the movie became anything was something of a miracle itself, having started as yet another TV series that was killed by ABC. The pilot was filmed in 1999 and a year and a half later, Lynch cobbled together the original cast, shot additional footage and rounded out his twisted plot.
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Lynch again used his favorite film structure, a mystery and an investigation. “Mulholland Drive” follows a budding actress who’s just arrived in Los Angeles as she forms a friendship with another young woman, who has become an amnesiac following a horrific car accident that left her for dead. The two women attempt to learn about the amnesiac’s mysterious past, leading them into an ever-stranger world of mobsters, actors, cops, singers and filmmakers.
In this, his most artistically and philosophically complex work, Lynch portrays “the Hollywood golden dream turning rancid, curdling into a poisonous stew of hatred, envy, sleazy compromise and soul-killing failure. This is the underbelly of our glamorous fantasies”, as Michael Wilmington wrote in the Chicago Tribune.
Following “Mulholland Drive,” Lynch’s filmic output sputtered in the final decades of his life and seemed to halt for lengthy stretches following his descent into near self-parody with his enigmatic last feature, “Inland Empire.” In 2017, he revived the “Twin Peaks” franchise with a baffling yet acclaimed season 3 for Showtime, which he described as an 18-hour movie.
<div id="attachment_860915" style="width: 722px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-860915" class="size-large wp-image-860915" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-139424230-712x576.jpg" alt="TWIN PEAKS - Gallery - Shoot Date: March 22, 1990. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)DAVID LYNCH" width="712" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-139424230-712x576.jpg 712w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-139424230-300x243.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-139424230-768x621.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-139424230.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 712px) 100vw, 712px" />March 22, 1990. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)</div>
After that, Lynch then largely devoted himself to his paintings, his comic strip, his coffee-making business and transcendental meditation, the Buddhist practice he first embraced in his late 20s. He continued to frequent and praise the restaurant Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, California.
It is now very quiet out in David Lynch land and all the dreams have floated off into the dark. The dancing dwarfs are idle and The Log Lady no longer shares clairvoyant visions transmitted by The Log. David Lynch has crossed over the River Styx. Requiescat in pace.
* * *
Matt Kemp is the Director of Post-Production at The Daily Wire.

Black and White Celebrity Photography By Chris Weeks

David Lynch, Visionary Filmmaker And Creator Of ‘Twin Peaks,’ Dead At 78

David Lynch, Visionary Filmmaker And Creator Of ‘Twin Peaks’, Dead At 78

Celebrities

Obituaries

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/artificial-intelligence">artificial intelligence</a> (AI) startup Runway announced that it is offering grants of up to $1 million for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/movies">filmmakers</a> willing to use the technology on future <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">projects</a>.
It’s all part of their newly created “The Hundred Film Fund,” per <a href="https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/runway-hundred-film-fund-filmmakers-artificial-intelligence-1236154376/">Variety</a>, which was created to help fund both short and feature-length films. The company noted that grants would range from $5,000 to $1 million and that applications would be processed and responded to within 14 days of submission.
Runway also doesn’t require applicants to use its software, only that they use AI for their work. Any approved filmmakers using AI will be offered up to $2 million in credits to use Runway’s AI program, however.
Runway co-founder and CEO Cris Valenzuela told Variety there isn’t a catch to this offer. “This is not about getting our money back,” he told the outlet, insisting that the grants are simply meant to serve as incentives for filmmakers to embrace AI for their work. The Runway founder also mentioned that the company would not retain rights to any film projects produced with their grants.
“We’re a software company. Our business is to sell tools,” Valenzuela said. “Our success will be rooted in our ability to help storytellers make these films.” 
“We believe that the best stories are yet to be told, and that traditional funding mechanisms often overlook these new visions,” the Runway exec added, saying that there was no set amount of money the company was giving out and that submissions would be on a rolling basis.
All pitches will be evaluated by a team of individuals representing the tech and entertainment industry. Those include Tribeca Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal, Nvidia VP Richard Kerris, recording artist and entrepreneur will.i.am, film colorist and Company 3 founder Stefan Sonnenfeld, and Asher XR CEO Christina Lee Storm. The outlet noted that Kerris and will.i.am are both investors in Runway.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726313279401000&amp;usg=AOvVaw115_qPFFEePDP86-Fvo-Vd">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a>
The AI company recently made headlines for being the first to sign with a major studio, Lionsgate, to use its proprietary software to comb the studio’s library and help facilitate future projects, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lionsgate-signs-deal-with-ai-company-to-help-creators-augment-their-work">reported</a>. 
At the time, Runway stressed the collaborative nature of the deal, using the word “augment” rather than selling itself as a replacement for creative work. 
“We’re committed to giving artists, creators and studios the best and most powerful tools to augment their workflows and enable new ways of bringing their stories to life,” Valenzuela said.
“The history of art is the history of technology and these new models are part of our continuous efforts to build transformative mediums for artistic and creative expression. The best stories are yet to be told,” he added. “Lionsgate has an incredible creative team and a clear vision for how AI can help their work — we’re excited to help bring their ideas to life.”

AI Company Offering Filmmakers Grants Up To $1M To Use New Tech

Artificial Intelligence

Technology

Today – Season 71

‘Not Hungry, Starving’: Mike Rowe Discusses What Inspired Him To Make His New Film

'Not Hungry, Starving': Mike Rowe Discusses What Inspired Him To Make His New Film

Documentaries

Mike Rowe

Readers Pass

Film director Oliver Stone defended former President Donald Trump in an interview that was published over the weekend against the criminal trials that he faces.
Speaking with Variety, Stone, who is a staunch opponent of the former president, <a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/news/oliver-stone-cannes-documentary-lula-donald-trump-trials-hugo-chavez-1236008565/">compared</a> the trials that Trump faces with the trials that other world leaders face.
&#8220;The charges on both sides of the Trump-Biden election are pretty wild,&#8221; Stone said. &#8220;It’s a new form of warfare. It’s called lawfare. And that’s what they’re using against Trump. And I think there’s interesting parallels here in America, as well as all over the world, you’re seeing this kind of behavior. [Trump’s] got four trials and some of these charges, whether you’re for him or against him, they are minor.&#8221;
The interviewer said that when Stone started talking about Trump, a publicist for Stone&#8217;s new documentary, &#8220;Lula,&#8221; which is about Brazil&#8217;s far-left president, tried to get Stone to talk about something else, but Stone waved him off.
He later suggested that the U.S. needs to reform its election systems and political systems to be more like Europe so that there are more parties to choose from instead of it always being just two political parties clashing.
“If you’re a poor man or a middle-class man it’s very hard to run for office in the United States, unless you have money and corporate sponsors,&#8221; he later added. &#8220;Money controls politics in the United States. If you go to European countries, you’ll find that their elections are very mandated. The British elections are very low cost, or they used to be until recently. In France, they have election rules. And we need that in the United States. Let’s get the money out of the politics.”
&#8220;Look at the [two] parties,&#8221; he later added. &#8220;We should be multi-party and we should have public money in politics like they do in Poland. Or look at the English and the French models.”

“Lula” Photocall – The 77th Annual Cannes Film Festival

Film Director Oliver Stone Defends Trump Amid Criminal Trials: ‘It’s Called Lawfare’

Lawfare

Oliver Stone

A famous Iranian film director whose films are banned in his native country has fled Iran after he was sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging by the despotic Iranian regime.
Mohammad Rasoulof, the director of “The Twilight,” “Iron Island,” “Goodbye, Manuscripts Don&#8217;t Burn,” “A Man of Integrity,” and the Golden Bear-winning “There Is No Evil,” posted a video of a mountainous area and said he had permanently left Iran, as Yashar Ali <a href="https://www.thereset.news/p/breaking-acclaimed-film-director">reported</a>.
&#8220;If you think you control the borders of Iran, you are dreaming,” Rasoulof wrote. “If the geographical Iran suffers under your religious despotism, the cultural Iran lives in the collective mind of millions of Iranians who were forced to leave Iran due to your oppression and brutality, and no power can impose its will on it. From today, I reside in cultural Iran, a boundless land built by millions of Iranians with an ancient history and culture in every corner of the world. And they eagerly await to bury you and your regime of darkness in the depths of history. Then, like a phoenix, a new life will begin from that soil.&#8221;
On Monday, Rasoulof released a statement through <a href="applewebdata://982AA178-05E4-4783-A6E8-726C65BBA11E/v">Variety</a>, saying: “I arrived in Europe a few days ago after a long and complicated journey … I didn’t have much time to make a decision. I had to choose between prison and leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile. The Islamic Republic confiscated my passport in September 2017. Therefore, I had to leave Iran secretly.”
“Death sentences are being executed as the Islamic Republic has targeted the lives of protesters and civil rights activists,” he continued. “It’s hard to believe, but right now as I’m writing this, the young rapper, Toomaj Salehi, is held in prison and has been sentenced to death. The scope and intensity of repression has reached a point of brutality where people expect news of another heinous government crime every day. The criminal machine of the Islamic Republic is continuously and systematically violating human rights.”
“Rasoulof&#8217;s latest film, ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree,’ is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next week. He had been pressured by Islamic Republic authorities to withdraw the film,” Ali reported.
Jean-Christophe Simon, CEO of Films Boutique and Parallel45, distributors of the film, <a href="applewebdata://982AA178-05E4-4783-A6E8-726C65BBA11E/v">said</a> on Monday, “We are very happy and much relieved that Mohammad has safely arrived in Europe after a dangerous journey. We hope he will be able to attend the Cannes premiere.”

“Lerd (Un Homme Integre)” Photocall – The 70th Annual Cannes Film Festival

Famed Film Director Flees Iran, Slams ‘Criminal Regime’: ‘Eagerly Await To Bury You And Your Regime Of Darkness’

exile

Iran

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/alec-baldwin-could-still-face-involuntary-manslaughter-charges-in-rust-shooting">Alec Baldwin</a> was indicted Friday by a grand jury on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2021 shooting on the set of the film &#8220;Rust&#8221; that left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead and injured director Joel Souza.
Two special prosecutors, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, presented their case this week to a grand jury after receiving further analysis about the gun used, <a href="https://variety.com/2024/biz/news/alec-baldwin-manslaughter-rust-shooting-again-1235875855/">Variety</a> reported. The report found that the shooting occurred by a &#8220;pull or rearward depression of the trigger,&#8221; something Baldwin previously had been adamant he hadn&#8217;t done.
&#8220;This fatal incident was the consequence of the hammer being manually retracted to its fully rearward and cocked position followed, at some point, by the pull or rearward depression of the trigger,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/16/arts/alec-baldwin-gun-trigger-rust.html">report</a> concluded. &#8220;Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A grand jury has indicted Alec Baldwin on an involuntary manslaughter charge for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
(Source: <a href="https://t.co/XD717hdtzJ">https://t.co/XD717hdtzJ</a>) <a href="https://t.co/qilHptsPoF">pic.twitter.com/qilHptsPoF</a>
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) <a href="https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1748429911100948751?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2024</a></blockquote>
Baldwin&#8217;s attorneys, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, released a statement on Friday that read, &#8220;We look forward to our day in court.&#8221;
Two sources <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alec-baldwin-may-face-involuntary-manslaughter-charge-rust-shooting-pr-rcna104138" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously</a> told NBC News that New Mexico prosecutors intended to recharge the 65-year-old actor after previously dropping the criminal charges against him, citing &#8220;new facts.&#8221;
At the time, Nikas and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/arts/alec-baldwin-grand-jury-rust.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alex Spiro</a> said, &#8220;It is unfortunate that a terrible tragedy has been turned into this misguided prosecution. We will answer any charges in court.&#8221;
In January 2023, the Santa Fe County District Attorney’s Office charged Baldwin with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. The charges were dismissed without prejudice in April after the actor&#8217;s legal team claimed the gun had been modified in some way which caused it to malfunction, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/alec-baldwin-rust-set-shooting-charge-59e437602146168ced27fd8e03acb636?taid=65aacd8c30e2620001dd1747&amp;utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter">Associated Press</a> noted. 
Prosecutors made clear at the time, &#8220;This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled.&#8221;
&#8220;The gun and broken sear have been sent to the state&#8217;s independent expert for further testing,&#8221; the office said at the time. &#8220;The charges against Alec Baldwin were dismissed without prejudice because a possible malfunction of the gun significantly affects causation with regard to Baldwin, not with regard to Gutierrez. If it is determined that the gun did not malfunction, charges against Mr. Baldwin will proceed.&#8221;
The state of New Mexico brought in gun analysts Lucien Haag and Mike Haag in its case against &#8220;Rust&#8221; armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to determine if the gun had been modified. That <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/16/arts/alec-baldwin-gun-trigger-rust.html">report</a> determined the “trigger had to pulled or depressed.”
In October 2021, the &#8220;30 Rock&#8221; star was involved in the shooting of Hutchins on the New Mexico film set. The firearm Baldwin was holding discharged a bullet. Baldwin has repeatedly maintained that there was &#8220;no trigger pull.&#8221;
Gutierrez-Reed was charged with involuntary manslaughter and pleaded not guilty, the AP noted. Her trial is set for February 21, 2024, Variety noted.
If convicted the “Saturday Night Live” star could spend up to 18 months in prison, Variety noted.

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Alec Baldwin Indicted On Charge Of Involuntary Manslaughter In ‘Rust’ Shooting

Alec Baldwin Indicted On Charge Of Involuntary Manslaughter In 'Rust' Shooting

Alec Baldwin

Death

New Mexico

News

Shooting

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charges-dropped-against-alec-baldwin-in-fatal-rust-shooting-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alec Baldwin</a> could still face involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the 2021 shooting on the &#8220;Rust&#8221; set that left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead and injured director Joel Souza.
Two sources told NBC News that New Mexico prosecutors intend to recharge the 65-year-old actor after previously dropping the criminal charges against him, citing &#8220;new facts.&#8221; The sources also said the case could be brought before a grand jury by mid-November.
&#8220;We believe that based on our lengthy and detailed investigation that it is appropriate for a grand jury in New Mexico to make a decision on whether the case should proceed,&#8221; one of the prosecutors, Kari T. Morrissey, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/arts/alec-baldwin-grand-jury-rust.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>.
After dropping the charges earlier this year, prosecutors said, &#8220;This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled.&#8221;
&#8220;The gun and broken sear have been sent to the state&#8217;s independent expert for further testing,&#8221; the office said at the time. &#8220;The charges against Alec Baldwin were dismissed without prejudice because a possible malfunction of the gun significantly affects causation with regard to Baldwin, not with regard to Gutierrez. If it is determined that the gun did not malfunction, charges against Mr. Baldwin will proceed.&#8221;
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In October 2021, the &#8220;30 Rock&#8221; star was involved in the shooting of Hutchins on the New Mexico film set. The firearm Baldwin was holding discharged a bullet. Baldwin has repeatedly maintained that there was &#8220;no trigger pull.&#8221;
The state of New Mexico brought in gun analysts Lucien Haag and Mike Haag in its case against &#8220;Rust&#8221; armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to determine if the gun had been modified.
&#8220;Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver,&#8221; the analysts concluded.
In January 2023, The Santa Fe County District Attorney&#8217;s Office charged Baldwin with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. The charges were dismissed without prejudice in April.
Gutierrez-Reed was charged with involuntary manslaughter and is expected to plead not guilty, NBC News noted. Her trial is set for February 2024.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/experts-find-alec-baldwin-did-pull-trigger-in-rust-shooting-could-still-face-charges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Experts Find Alec Baldwin Did Pull Trigger In &#8216;Rust&#8217; Shooting, Could Still Face Charges</a>

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Alec Baldwin Could Still Face Involuntary Manslaughter Charges In ‘Rust’ Shooting

Alec Baldwin Could Still Face Involuntary Manslaughter Charges In 'Rust' Shooting

Halyna Hutchins

U.S.

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