Movies

The Hunt director defends film’s politics as Universal cancel release after US shootings


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The Hunt director Craig Zobel has defended his film after Universal pulled the plug on its release following several mass shootings in the space of a few days.

The film was criticised by the right-wing press and President Trump as ‘racist’ but Zobel insisted that the politics of the film have been misrepresented and that the ‘ambition was to poke at both sides of the aisle equally’.

‘If I believed this film could incite violence, I wouldn’t have made it,’ he said.

The film, starring GLOW’s Betty Gilpin and Hilary Swank, came from Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions and follows a dozen individuals who wake up in a clearing and realise they are being stalked for sport.

In a statement to Variety Zobel said: ‘Our ambition was to poke at both sides of the aisle equally.

‘We seek to entertain and unify, not enrage and divide. It is up to the viewers to decide what their takeaway will be.

‘I wanted to make a fun, action thriller that satirized this moment in our culture — where we jump to assume we know someone’s beliefs because of which “team” we think they’re on… and then start shouting at them.

‘This rush to judgment is one of the most relevant problems of our time.’

Betty Gilpin starred in The Hunt (Picture: Universal)

On 9 August, just days after the deaths of 31 Americans in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio in separate shootings, President Donald Trump slammed ‘Liberal Hollywood’ for the film and suggested that those who worked in Hollywood ‘try to blame others’ after creating violence themselves.

Critics claim Mr Trump’s own words have contributed to a combustible climate that has spawned death and other violence.

Mr Trump’s motorcade passed El Paso protesters holding ‘Racist Go Home’ signs, and he spent part of his flight between Ohio and Texas airing his grievances on Twitter, berating Democratic legislators, Beto O’Rourke and the press.

The El Paso shooter had published a white nationalist, anti-immigrant manifesto in the hours before his actions.

The Hunt director defended the film from critics (Picture: Universal)

‘Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and Hate!’ tweeted Trump.

‘They like to call themselves “Elite,” but they are not Elite. In fact, it is often the people that they so strongly oppose that are actually the Elite. The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos.

‘They create their own violence, and then try to blame others. They are the true Racists, and are very bad for our Country.’

Trump took to Twitter (Picture: Twitter)

The film has not screened but an early script seen by the trade magazine allegedly depicted working-class conservatives as the heroes who were kidnapped and hunted by ‘liberal elites’.

A spokesperson for The Hunt said of the rumours of negative audience feedback: ‘While some outlets have indicated that test screenings for The Hunt resulted in negative audience feedback; in fact, the film was very well-received and tallied one of the highest test scores for an original Blumhouse film.

‘Additionally, no audience members in attendance at the test screening expressed discomfort with any political discussion in the film.

While reports also say The Hunt was formerly titled Red State vs. Blue State, that was never the working title for the film at any point throughout the development process, nor appeared on any status reports under that name.’

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