August 9, 2019

USA: Hollywood Movie Shows Progressive Democrat Elites Hunting Down ‘Deplorables’ Trump MAGA Supporters Slated To Hit Theaters In September. 😱

UPDATE 9/7/19 at 12:25pm: Added tweet above.
Hollywood Reporter
written by Kim Masters , Tatiana Siegel
Tuesday August 6, 2019

In the wake of a trio of deadly massacres, the studio is evaluating its strategy for the R-rated Blumhouse satire in which elites stalk "deplorables."

"Did anyone see what our ratfucker-in-chief just did?" one character asks early in the screenplay for The Hunt, a Universal Pictures thriller set to open Sept. 27. Another responds: "At least The Hunt's coming up. Nothing better than going out to the Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables."

In the aftermath of mass shootings within days of one another that shocked and traumatized the nation, Universal is re-evaluating its strategy for the certain-to-be-controversial satire. The violent, R-rated film from producer Jason Blum's Blumhouse follows a dozen MAGA types who wake up in a clearing and realize they are being stalked for sport by elite liberals.

Over the Aug. 3 weekend, ESPN pulled an ad for the film that it had previously cleared, while AMC ran the spot during the season premiere of its drama The Preacher. It's unclear whether the ads were identical, but the one yanked by ESPN opened with a sound resembling an emergency broadcast signal. A rep for ESPN parent Disney declined to comment on the move, but an ESPN source says no spots for the film will appear on the network in the coming weeks.

The Hunt stars Betty Gilpin from GLOW and Hilary Swank, representing opposite sides of the political divide. It features guns blazing along with other ultra-violent killings as the elites pick off their prey. The script from Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter revolves around third-rail political themes. (Original title: Red State Vs. Blue State.)

A studio source says that even before the recent attacks, which left 34 dead in El Paso, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; and Gilroy, California, some reshoots were done based on a recent rough cut. Universal and Blumhouse declined to comment.

While one high-level Universal source says the studio has pulled some ads that are beginning to air and appear online "for content and placement," others say the matter is still under discussion internally. A major ad blitz on television and the web had been planned for the beginning of September, says one insider. A trailer is already online.

Given the fraught political climate — particularly in the wake of the attack in El Paso, which was motivated by anti-immigrant bigotry — studio sources say Universal is evaluating its plans in what one called "a fluid situation." A high-level insider says top executives want to stand by Blum, one of the studio's most prolific and successful producers, as well as filmmaker Craig Zobel, and see the project as a satire addressing an issue of great social importance. But this person says plans could change "if people think we're being exploitative rather than opinionated."

From a business perspective, The Hunt presents a gamble for Universal in these divided times. The satire Assassination Nation, which also pitted the woke versus the unwoke in uber-violent fashion, represented the top sale at Sundance 2018 at $10 million. But the film fizzled upon its release later that year, earning just $2 million with no international rollout. Says one person involved with that film, "We thought people would get the joke."

The Hunt made some executives at Universal skittish back in May 2018, when film chief Donna Langley acquired the script and fast-tracked it at a modest $18 million budget. It is unclear whether there were any other bidders on the property, the sale of which was brokered by CAA, but insiders at several studios told THR at the time that they did not pursue it because of the explosive premise. One executive says he didn't even read the script, noting, "The idea seemed crazy."

This is not the first time a studio has been faced with real-life events that rendered a film release more complicated. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, for example, Warner Bros. moved back the Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer Collateral Damage and abandoned a trailer that featured a bomb attack in the U.S. The 2017 Death Wish remake was delayed several months in response to a mass shooting in Las Vegas. And Oliver Stone's 1994 satire Natural Born Killers was criticized for inspiring copycat killings.

Certainly, satire can be a dicey genre for studios to pull off. Just ask Sony, which became the target of a 2014 hack blamed on the North Koreans over the Seth Rogen comedy The Interview.

The script for The Hunt features the red-state characters wearing trucker hats and cowboy shirts, with one bragging about owning seven guns because it's his constitutional right. The blue-state characters — some equally adept with firearms — explain that they picked their targets because they expressed anti-choice positions or used the N-word on Twitter. "War is war," says one character after shoving a stiletto heel through the eye of a denim-clad hillbilly.

"Employees in different departments were questioning the wisdom of making such a movie in these times," says one filmmaker with ties to Universal. "In light of the horrific [recent shootings], is this not the most craven, irresponsible, dangerous exploitation?"

That point is countered by a Universal executive, who says the movie "is meant to show what a stupid, crazy world we live in," adding, "It might even be more powerful now."

Marisa Guthrie contributed to this report.

This story appears in the Aug. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
The Epoch Times
written by Zachary Stieber
Wednesday August 7, 2019

A movie featuring “elite liberals” stalking “deplorables” is slated to be released in September, reported the Hollywood Reporter, but has lost an advertisement on ESPN in the wake of two mass shootings on Aug. 3 and Aug. 4.

The movie, “The Hunt,” from Universal Pictures, shows people hunting down “deplorables,” a term failed presidential contender Hillary Clinton used to describe supporters of Trump during the 2016 campaign.

“Did anyone see what our [expletive]-in-chief just did?” one character asks others early in the movie, according to a screening seen by the Hollywood Reporter. “At least The Hunt’s coming up. Nothing better than going out to the Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables.”

According to the Reporter, the movie’s script features blue-state characters choosing to hunt red-state characters who expressed pro-life positions or were deemed racist.

One executive who passed on the script told the outlet that he didn’t even read it, adding: “The idea seemed crazy.”

“Employees in different departments were questioning the wisdom of making such a movie in these times,” added a filmmaker with ties to Universal. “In light of the horrific [recent shootings], is this not the most craven, irresponsible, dangerous exploitation?”

Executives have tried billing the film as satire, though it’s unclear what’s satirical about it. A search for interviews from anyone involved with the film didn’t turn up anything.

An inside source told the Reporter that Universal is trying to decide what to do in the wake of the mass shootings. Some executives want to support Blum, one of Universal’s top producers, and Zobel, and view the project as satire. But plans could change “if people think we’re being exploitative rather than opinionated,” the source added.
ESPN pulled an advertisement for the movie over the weekend while AMC aired an ad Sunday night.

According to the official description for the movie, it shows 12 strangers waking up in a clearing. “They don’t know where they are, or how they got there. They don’t know they’ve been chosen—for a very specific purpose—The Hunt.”

“In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, a group of elites gathers for the very first time at a remote Manor House to hunt humans for sport. But the elites’ master plan is about to be derailed because one of the hunted, Crystal, knows The Hunters’ game better than they do. She turns the tables on the killers, picking them off, one by one, as she makes her way toward the mysterious woman at the center of it all,” the description added.
The movie stars Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, and Emma Roberts, was written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof, directed by Craig Zobel, and produced by Blumhouse Productions. It’s rated R.

Wayne Duplee’s character, one of the strangers who wakes up in the clearing, tells the others in a trailer that he knows what happened.

“Every year, a bunch of elites kidnap normal folk like us and hunt us for sport,” he says. The group lists where they are all from, which includes Wyoming, Mississippi, and Florida.

Correction: The headline of this article was updated on Aug. 9, 2019, to more accurately reflect the content of the article.
Patch.com 8/6/19: UPDATE: Patchogue 'Death Camp' Fliers Were Part Of Horror Show

Fliers hung in Patchogue read "Death Camps For Trump Supporters Now!" A horror theater company admitted it posted them about a month ago.
UPDATE 8/10/19 at 1:09pm: I added tweets below.
Notice they said, "Now is not the right time to release this film." Does that mean it's on stand-by to be released at a later date? It doesn't sound like this film has been permanently scrapped. (emphasis mine)

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 12:43 PM

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