I want more for Jonathan Majors than to play the lead of a movie designed to make its audience afraid of Muslims.
The film, “Run Hide Fight: Infidels,” is a sequel to a franchise I had no clue existed. Its logline, first shared by Page Six Hollywood, is as stereotypical as the title suggests it to be.
“When radical Islamic terrorists hijack a liberal college’s pro-Palestine encampment to enforce barbaric Sharia law on students and execute infidels in a makeshift caliphate, a ragtag band of red-blooded students, a security guard tired of ‘Uncle Tom’ smears, and a Delta Force vet must arm up to save their clueless peers and keep America from surrendering to the enemy on its own soil,” the logline reads.
It sounds so stupid I could scream.
In fairness to Majors — whose star has fallen in the aftermath of being found guilty of one count of third-degree assault and one count of harassment involving his former girlfriend — perhaps that film descriptor isn’t all that different from other Islamophobic works produced by major Hollywood studios.
He is not the only actor accepting roles in films funded by peculiar sources. Disgraced star Armie Hammer, who was hit with several allegations of sexual misconduct and assault five years ago, is set to star in “Citizen Vigilante,” which was basically banned in Germany because it “could incite violence against immigrants,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Marvel star Anthony Mackie recently starred in “Desert Warrior,” the widely panned $150 million film that was intended to revitalize the Saudi film industry. It has yet to gross $1 million.
Still, there’s something so off-putting about Majors’ new project.
If the trailer didn’t scream prejudice-promotion propaganda to you, Page Six Hollywood reporter Tatiana Siegel gleefully details the attitudes and intentions of the people behind it.
Siegel, who says the movie “will make liberal heads explode,” spoke with one of the film’s producers, Dallas Sonnier.
“The woke mind virus has captured Hollywood for the past 12 years, and while woke is winding down, there is a new obsession with the anti-Israel, pro-Palestine movement that deserves to be mocked in a movie again,” Sonnier said.
“If you’re afraid to put radical jihadis as your villains, then you’re a wimpy movie producer. We don’t have that fear,” he continued.
It’s futile to reason with that level of ignorance.
However, in these trying economic times, I’m fully aware that many of us may have to do things we wouldn’t normally want to do to make money and survive — even Hollywood actors. Yet some money is never worth the price of the work required.
There’s something to be said about never allowing bad times to cheapen one’s morals. That’s what’s most troubling about Majors’ decision to take part in this movie: The role was not likely taken out of necessity.
Sonnier shared that Majors apparently takes no issue with the content of “Run Hide Fight: Infidels” and will be doing press in the coming months.
“He loved the script, loved shooting the movie, is so great in the film, and he is totally, 1,000% behind it,” he shared.
What a fall from grace for the star of “Creed III,” “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” and “Lovecraft Country.”
Even if I were not convinced that Majors had learned much of anything from the controversy that derailed his once-soaring acting career, I want better for him than “Run Hide Fight: Infidels.”
But does he want better for himself?
Majors may feel like Hollywood turned its back on him, but this seems like a weird pivot considering where he went for cover after the 2023 assault conviction.
He turned to Black platforms, which gave him far more grace than he arguably earned, and Black audiences, who, for better or worse, largely embraced him.
I’m not the man’s agent, but where is Tubi? Where is Tyler Perry? We lost BET+, but I imagine Paramount+ still has some funds left in the budget for Black-led movies.
Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro, whose media company Daily Wire is producing the film, is someone who’s made a whole lot of money playing into the biases of a segment of the population by denying systemic racism while openly engaging in speech and behavior some might describe as pretty damn racist.
Majors announces his first role in more than two years, and it’s a movie designed to stoke fear and offend Muslims. Not only that, it’s being released by the creator of a platform known for playing in the faces of Black folks.
That says so much about Majors and what to expect from him moving forward.
I hope he enjoys all of the right-wing supporters he will gain come fall by helping Shapiro tell stories about big, scary Muslims.
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