Actor Pedro Pascal has weighed in on the controversy surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security and their administration's treatment of immigrants.
Pedro Pascal Stands Up for Protection of Immigrants
The 50-year-old star spoke up during the press conference for the new political, modern Western Eddington at the Cannes Film Festival, where he was asked about the recent deportations in the US.
Though Pedro was hesitant to speak, he started off by saying, "It's obviously very scary for an actor who participated in the movie to speak on issues like this."
The movie, Eddington, is an A24 film that tackles a "standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor, as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eddington also made bold political statements that may rub some people the wrong way. For example, the film incorporates major nationwide events such as mask mandates, the killing of George Floyd, and right-left divisions.
"I want people to be safe and protected," The Last of Us star said in the recent interview, "I want to live on the right side of history."
Pedro continued, "I am an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the United States after asylum in Denmark. I stand by those protections, always."
When asked if Pedro, along with his cast members Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler, feared reactions upon re-entering the U.S. post-film production, he replied, "Fear is the way that they win."
"I wrote this film in a state of fear and anxiety about the world, and I wanted to try to pull back and show what it feels like to live in a world where nobody can agree on what is real anymore," the Eddington filmmaker Ari Aster said, "The last 20 years, we've fallen into this age of hyperindividualism."
Trump's DHS is Considering Citizenship Competition for Immigrants
To shed light on what's currently happening with Trump's administration, veteran reality show producer Rob Worsoff, a Canadian immigrant who created The Millionaire Matchmaker, Duck Dynasty, and The Biggest Loser, claimed he pitched a game show to pit immigrants against one another for a chance of winning US citizenship the fastest way possible.
If you don't think that plot sounds familiar, then you might not have watched Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games franchise, which was essentially addressed at Worsoff's "pitch."
"Once you get past the shocking headline of like, 'Oh it's the Hunger Games for immigration," producer Worsoff said, "It's not that at all. The show would offer the opportunity for one lucky person of America's choosing to skip to the front of the line in that process and fast-track their way to citizenship."
Worsoff believes this show would "celebrate" and "humanize" the people so that "we" could "cheer for them" and "love them" (just like the Capitol did for district tributes).
It remains to be seen whether the game show will truly come to fruition, considering the ethics and legality behind the concept. However, he did mention he also pitched the same idea to the Obama administration previously.
For now, Eddington premieres in theaters on July 18.
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