By Christine Chen and Jorge Nieto
SYDNEY/GOLD COAST, Australia (Reuters) -Australia’s film industry wants actor Mel Gibson to do what he does in his action-hero movies and save the day, by convincing U.S. President Donald Trump to drop his film tariffs which could devastate its A$1 billion ($650 million) Hollywood business.
Industry leaders said the tariffs would cause a large number of job losses in the local film production sector, drive up ticket prices, and called for U.S.-born Gibson, who launched his career in Australia, to use his role as a Trump adviser to urge the president to reconsider.
In January, Trump hired Gibson as a “special ambassador” to Hollywood although he didn’t elaborate on his role.
“Hopefully Mel Gibson, as one of Trump’s advisers in this space, is telling the President that this is a dumb idea,” Kate Carnell, chair of industry body Screen Producers Australia, said in an interview.
Gibson plans to shoot a movie in Italy this year, according to industry media, which could be impacted by the U.S. tariffs.
“For Mel Gibson to make his movie in Italy and then to have a 100% tariff for it to be shown in America is just nonsensical,” said Carnell.
Trump on Sunday announced a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the U.S., saying the American movie industry was dying a “very fast death” due to the incentives that other countries were offering to lure filmmakers.
Trump’s latest tariff announcement bewildered studio executives who for decades have overseen productions across several continents and could not understand how it would work. It also sent shockwaves through film industries abroad where Hollywood shoots movies for cheaper production costs.
AUSTRALIAN FILM INDUSTRY AT RISK
Since the first Star Wars prequels and Matrix sequels were shot in Sydney in the early 2000s with the Australian dollar near a record-low against the U.S. dollar, Australia’s film industry has become enmeshed with Hollywood.
International spending on film and television productions in Australia was about half the industry’s total A$1.7 billion expenditure in 2024, says Screen Australia, a government body, which noted the overall figure fell 29% since the prior year partly due to a Hollywood writers’ strike.
“One hundred percent tariffs would be devastating for the Australian film industry … we’re talking about a lot of jobs (lost), hard to put a number on them,” Carnell said, adding Australia’s U.S. film business was worth around A$1 billion. “People are saying, ‘how could they do this? It’s so stupid’.”
Carnell said if Hollywood studios spent more shooting all movies in the U.S., “their costs would go up, and so the costs to consumers, to people who see movies, would go up as well”.
Kate Marks, CEO of Ausfilm, which connects international studios with Australia, said the U.S. had a “long and mutually beneficial history” of collaborating on films with Australia.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and awaiting further details and will continue to work with our industry and government partners,” she said.
In the state of Queensland, home to Village Roadshow Studios where Marvel’s “Thor: Ragnarok” and Warner Bros’ “Aquaman” were shot, the state’s screen agency said the industry was “globally connected” and involved collaboration with national and international partners.
“The proposed U.S. film tariff has caused widespread global uncertainty and we’re closely monitoring this evolving situation,” CEO Jacqui Feeney said.
A government spokesperson for the state of Victoria, where Docklands Studios Melbourne is based, said the state would always back local screen and production workers.
“Victoria’s world-class crews, state-of-the-art studios and award-winning digital and post-production capabilities means Victoria is a destination of choice for global productions,” the spokesperson said.
($1 = 1.5427 Australian dollars)
(Writing by Byron Kaye; Editing by Michael Perry)
