Directing legend John Carpenter has some choice words for Donald Trump.
While appearing on THR‘s It Happened in Hollywood podcast to discuss the making of his 1988 sci-fi film They Live — itself a wry comment on Reagan-era political policies — the topic of the Nov. 5, 2024 presidential election came up and the stark choice Americans face between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
After host Seth Abramovitch noted that Trump “fits right into the They Live world” — where an alien race moves silently among humans, brainwashing them into doing things like “obey” and “consume” — Carpenter, 76, said, “Of course it does. It makes total sense.”
“There’s so much of what we’ve turned into as a country that just makes me heartsick,” he continued. “This return of racism and xenophobia. Oh, God — that’s awful, awful stuff.
“I grew up in the South, and I know Jim Crow South really well. And I knew that never ended. I know that no matter what law you passed, in the hearts of many settlers — not all, but many — those settlements remain.
“But now it’s been brought back by Trump, I think. And it’s horrible. The world is just horrible,” Carpenter said.
In They Live, then-WWF wrestler Roddy Piper plays Nada, a homeless blue collar laborer who comes to L.A. in search of work. He discovers a pair of sunglasses that reveal the true nature of society — that a race of bug-eyed aliens have camouflaged themselves to look like regular people and are feeding subliminal messages through advertising and media to keep them supplicated and obedient.
Also starring Keith David — who engages in a memorable, five-and-a-half-minute fight scene with Piper in an alley — the film was made for just $3 million ($8 million in 2024) and was a hit, earning $13.4 million ($36 million today) at the box office.
It has gone on to be hailed as a science-fiction classic, inspiring everyone from artist Shepard Fairey to the band Green Day, who paid homage to it in their “Back in the USA” video.
Carpenter — whose canon includes such masterpieces as 1978’s Halloween and 1982’s The Thing — did add an optimistic coda to his thoughts on the state of the country and the world.
“It’s horrible now — but I have hope, as I do,” he said “I have hope for mankind. I have hope that things will get better. But I worry, I worry, I worry.”
Listen to the entire episode of It Happened in Hollywood now.
