Richard Linklater dismisses Trump’s film tariffs plan at Cannes

Indie filmmaker Richard Linklater arrived at the 78th Cannes Film Festival to debut his brand new film, Nouvelle Vague, which received a 10-minute-plus standing ovation on Saturday, May 17.

Later, at the Cannes press conference for his movie, he was asked about his thoughts on Trump’s 100% tariffs on movies filmed outside the U.S.

Linklater doubted the possibility of the tariffs’ imposition, saying, “That’s not going to happen, right?”

The director said that U.S. President Donald Trump lacks consistency in his decisions and changes his mind multiple times. Linklater said that it’d be unwise, but before he could talk further, he shut down the conversation. 

“The tariff thing, that’s not going to happen, right? That guy changes his mind like 50 times in one day,” Linklater remarked. “It’s the one export industry in the U.S., it would be kind of dumb to… Whatever, we don’t have to talk about that.”

Moreover, he was asked if it’s more expensive to make films in the U.S. now, to which he responded that genuine indie, no-budget films have remained largely unchanged for the past six decades.

“I think the true indie film, the no-budget film, has cost the same for the last 60 years,” Linklater argued. “It’s always about how much you have, so that doesn’t change much.”

His flick Nouvelle Vague was entirely filmed in France, and he praised the French film industry for taking care of them.

“They make sure it’s healthy and they nurture it and they help it. The government, everyone is all in,” he gushed. “From production to distribution, they care. And our country, the U.S., could use a little bit of that.”

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