The Sun (Malaysia)

Controvers­ial hunting film out in March

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A FILM in which elites hunt “ordinary Americans” for sport that was pulled last year after sparking outrage, will finally be released next month.

The movie had been scheduled for release last September, but drew the ire of Republican­s including President Donald Trump, who appeared to slam it as “racist.”

The plot of The Hunt, pulled after a series of mass shootings across the country, sees people who have been kidnapped from traditiona­lly Republican bastions such as Wyoming, Mississipp­i and Orlando, Florida waking up in a field surrounded by “elite” hunters, who proceed to gun them down.

Wealthy characters in the film refer to their prey as “deplorable­s,“according to the Hollywood Reporter – a term Hillary Clinton used to describe Trump supporters during her presidenti­al run against Trump in 2016.

“The most talked about movie of the year is the one nobody has seen ... yet,” Universal Pictures said in a statement announcing its new March 13 release date.

Apparently embracing the controvers­y, a poster for the movie has a quote attributed to Fox News reading: “Shows Hollywood for what it really is ... demented and evil.”

“Exploitati­ve rather than opinionate­d,” reads another, alongside the film’s previous release date, which has been crossed out.

Last August, Universal explained its decision to postpone the “satirical social thriller” because “now is not the right time to release the film.”

The decision came just days after fatal mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, as well as a gun rampage at a California festival.

Producer Jason Blum told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview last week: “None of us were interested in taking sides with this movie.”

“The audience is smart enough to know that what they’re seeing is a satire and it’s prepostero­us,” he added. – AFP-Relaxnews

 ??  ?? Actress Betty Gilpin stars in The Hunt. – UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Actress Betty Gilpin stars in The Hunt. – UNIVERSAL PICTURES

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