Adam Carolla gives Hollywood a dollop of credit regarding its cozy new ties to the repressive Chinese film market.
It reeks of hypocrisy for an industry built on free expression to cater to the country’s whims, but at least it’s consistent, the podcast king says. After all, industry types routinely extol the virtues of citizens paying their fair share in taxes while moving heaven and earth to grab the latest tax break.
“The bottom line is the bottom line,” he tells Big Hollywood.
Carolla, promoting a new FundAnything drive to support his next feature film Road Hard, recalls visiting a Winnipeg hotel a year and a half ago when someone tipped him off that actor Samuel L. Jackson was staying in the room next door. Carolla briefly wondered why Jackson would be in the city during such a cold November stretch. Then he figured Jackson was likely shooting a project that received those highly coveted tax breaks.
“Some people [in Hollywood] never stop talking about giving your fair share … and supporting [President] Obama,” he says. That changes when economic realities loom over the horizon.
“It’s hypocritical, but consistent,” he says. “They can do all the fundraisers they want. When the rubber meets the road they want return on investment. Whether that’s in China or Winnipeg.”
In recent months Hollywood studios have recut their films (Django Unchained) and tweaked content (World War Z) to avoid the wrath of Chinese film officials.
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