Trump appoints Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as his special envoys to Hollywood

President-elect Donald Trump wants to make Hollywood “bigger, better and stronger” and has cast Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as stars in what he calls his “special ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California.”

Wednesday became the newly elected president announced on his social media that the three actors would be his eyes and ears for the film city.

“It will again be, like the United States itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!” he wrote on Truth Social.

He also called the trio special envoys. Special ambassadors and envoys are typically chosen to respond to troubled hot spots like the Middle East, not California.

In a statement to CBS News Thursday, Gibson said he “got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised. Nevertheless, I am heeding the call. My duty as a citizen is to provide any assistance and insight. Can the position come with an ambassador’s residence?”

Gibson’s home in Malibu was destroyed in the wildfires which burned the Los Angeles area.

American film and television production has been inhibited in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic The Hollywood Guild strikes of 2023 and this past week the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Total US production fell 26% from 2021, according to data from ProdPro.

In the greater LA area, production fell 5.6% from 2023, according to FilmLA, the lowest since 2020. Last October, California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed expanding California’s film and television tax credit program to $750 million annually, up from $330 million. Other US cities such as Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have used tax incentives to lure film and television productions to their cities. Actor Mark Wahlberg is even making plans for a production center in Las Vegas.

It’s unclear what exactly Gibson, Voight and Stallone will do in this effort to bring productions back to the American representatives of Voight, and Stallone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s decision to select the actors as his chosen “ambassadors” underscores his preoccupation with the 1980s and ’90s, when he was a rising tabloid star in New York and Gibson and Stallone were among the biggest movie stars in the world.

Stallone is a frequent guest at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and introduced him at a gala in November shortly after the election.

“When George Washington was defending his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world. Because without him, you could imagine what the world would be like,” Stallone told the audience. “Guess what? We got the second George Washington. Congratulations!”

The decision also reflects Trump’s willingness to overlook his supporters’ most controversial statements.

Gibson’s reputation has been altered in Hollywood since 2006, when he went on an anti-Semitic rant while arrested for allegedly driving under the influence. But he has also continued to work in mainstream films, directing the upcoming Wahlberg thriller “Flight Risk.”

Voight is a longtime Trump supporter who has called Trump the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.