Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment wants President Donald Trump get his biggest Hollywood wish: more Rush Hour movies.
“How’s work been?” an unseen casting director asks Emmy-nominated actor Ed Begley Jr. in the newest Instagram video from The Committee for the First Amendment.
“It’s been slow. You know, there’s only the Rush Hour movies. It’s one flavor,” Begley responds.
The Fonda-led committee hit back at Trump, 79, after news broke on Thursday that his “good friend,” Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, won the bidding war with Netflix over Hollywood’s coveted prize: Warner Bros. Discovery.
Last summer, Trump was reported to have “personally pressed” for Ellison, 43, to fast-track a new installment of the Warner-owned Rush Hour franchise.
The first three films were directed by Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual misconduct by six women, including actress Olivia Munn, at the height of the #MeToo era. Ratner most recently helmed Amazon’s Melania documentary, which is his first directorial credit in more than a decade.
In the video, titled “Auditions in a World Where Corporations Let the President Dictate Their Content Decisions,” a slew of actors pretend to audition for roles in the new Rush Hour-only Hollywood.
“I can’t get any movies that I want made. I’m hoping Rush Hour... will please the right people and maybe I’ll get a job,” Fonda, 88, quips in the video.
Bobby Berk, Yvette Nicole Brown, Kirsten Vangsness, Anthony Roy Davis, and Jodie Sweetin make appearances alongside Fonda and Begley.
The video’s caption reads, “Media companies that make content decisions as political favors to the president (repayable in approved merger deals!) should be embarrassed about their surrender to a corrupt administration set on destroying free expression.”
Fonda’s father, Henry, was an original member of the Committee for the First Amendment, which began in the 1940s, when Hollywood was threatened by the fearmongering of McCarthyism. Politics heavily swayed which movies were—and were not—produced by studios at that time, too.
The Grace and Frankie star’s committee previously parodied Netflix when its own deal with Warner Bros. Discovery was approved in December. The famed actress poked fun at Nicole Kidman’s AMC ads.
“Come to this place for mergers. We stream to self-silence, to censor, to slop,” Fonda said.
While the acclaimed actress was certainly offended by the MAGA-coded announcement of a multi-billion-dollar merger, she may have been even more offended by the pretend casting call.
“Are you taking acting classes?” a voice asks her from offscreen.
“My darling, I am 88 years old, and I’ve won two Oscars. So, I have not been taking any acting classes,” she replied, folding her arms.
