In his first major interview since being named president of the Directors Guild of America, Christopher Nolan has admitted he no idea how Donald Trump’s controversial movies tariffs proposal would work.
Christopher Nolan has no idea how Donald Trump’s controversial movies tariffs proposal would work.
The Odyssey director, 55, made the remark while setting out priorities for the Directors Guild of America after being named the group’s newly elected president.
He told Variety about Trump’s plan: “I don’t know how a tariff system would work.”
The outlet said he made the remark “judiciously” and “passed up an opportunity to slam President Trump’s proposed 100% tax on movies made overseas”.
Christopher instead said the plan had sparked conversations, and hinted they were about improving domestic production of movies within the States.
He added: “I will say that since President Trump has started bandying these ideas around, there’s a much more serious conversation from the studios about how to improve the situation in the United States – to be perfectly frank about it.”
Trump reportedly still wants to impose tariffs on movies made outside the United States.
He told the New York Post and California Post in comments reported in January: “I’m going to be putting tariffs on movies from outside of the country – if they’re made in Canada, if they’re made in all these places, because Los Angeles has lost the movie industry.
“And so I’m going to put tariffs on and we’re going to be doing bonds, some bonds, some low-interest bonds, for the movie industry. We’ll bring it back.”
Christopher, a citizen of both the UK and the US, made his comments on the plan after filming The Odyssey in locations around the Mediterranean.
He also said discussions had shifted towards incentives to keep production in the US.
Christopher added: “The way we see it, you want a stackable, 25 percent federal rebate that you can combine with your state rebates and be competitive with other places in the world that are siphoning production from the United States because of the excellent incentives that they have.”
He stressed job losses could not be explained solely by overseas competition.
Christopher went on: “If you look at the overall spending from the consumer on media, on entertainment, on our work, it’s extremely stable.
“But we’re looking at a 35 percent to 40 percent decline in employment for our members.”
Christopher is taking the helm of the Directors Guild of America as the union prepares for contract negotiations amid falling employment, industry consolidation and the impact of new technologies.
The filmmaker added the organisation’s roughly 20,000 members were confronting multiple pressures, including a steep drop in jobs, the rise of artificial intelligence and uncertainty surrounding the future of major studios.
He said: “We have very, very significant concerns about how this is all going to happen.
“I think it’s a very worrying time for the industry.”
Christopher Nolan admits he has no idea how Donald Trump’s controversial movies tariffs plan would work
