Anyone who had been holding out to see howDonald Trumpdid in his first few days as President before allowing the panic, fear, and confusion to set in has almost certainly given in at this point. If the Commander in Chief putting a gag order on the EPA, amongst so many other injustices, doesn’t make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, I don’t know what to say to you at this point. For those who see how dangerous and fascistic all of this is, it’s not hard to imagine the doomsday scenario that could easily unspool under his presidency.
Hollywood, as always, is more than aware of these sincere and appropriate fears, mind you, and are more than willing to exploit it as its more outspoken and angry denizens come out to loudly criticize Trump’s unending lunacy. Case in point: the script forLittle America, a dystopian action flick from writer-directorRowan Athale, has just been acquired by Universal following a small bidding war. AsTHRexplains, the script tells of a future where a Trump-like president has destroyed America’s economic and moral standing in the world to the point that China calls in its loans, making the good old U.S.A. something of a protectorate under China. In this world, a former soldier is asked by a Chinese billionaire to go into one of America’s more dangerous areas to retrieve his missing daughter.
It’s not only the blunt political not-so-sub-text that sparked Universal’s interest.Michael Bayand his Platinum Dunes label have already come on board to produce the film, which Athale is looking to direct, eyeingLittle Americaas his follow-up to his previous 2012 effort, Wasteland. The story does indeed sound all but identical toJohn Carpenter’sEscape from New YorkandEscape from L.A., which at once suggests creative bankruptcy and a sense of easy playfulness that’s been egregiously lacking in many modern action films. Still, though the setting is quite different, one must hope that Bay, Anthol, and Universal work to differentiateLittle Americaeven more so from Carpenter’s films. We do not, under any circumstances, need anotherLockoutsituation.
