Giancarlo Esposito says it’s “time for a revolution” in the U.S. as political tensions rise with the actions of ICE agents in Minneapolis.
“This is time for a revolution — and they don’t even know that’s what they’re starting,” the actor told Variety on Tuesday night at the Sundance Film Festival. “We have to stand up to it. They can’t take us all down. If the whole world showed up on Putin’s doorstep or the Iranians’ doorstep or in Washington, they’d kill 500 or 50 million or however [many], but the rest of us would survive with a new [world].”
Esposito’s comments came during the Sundance premiere of his new crime thriller “The Only Living Pickpocket” in New York, one of the final premieres at the festival’s final year in Park City. The narrative around the event has been defined by a politically-charged climate tied to the Trump administration’s mass deportations in Minneapolis and other parts of the country. Civil rights groups and legal advocates have raised concerns about federal enforcement tactics, including the excessive use of force and potential constitutional violations. Meanwhile, some conservative voices have attributed the unrest to alleged agitation by left-wing groups.
“Some very rich old white men are exerting their power to suppress our own people, thus creating a feeling of civil war in the streets, preparing the haters to hate, teaching them how to shoot,” Esposito said. “This is all a preparation for a very insidious problem that’s happening in our world. And for me, I have to speak out. We will not be ICE’d out. This is not going to happen.”
A number of celebrities, including Esposito’s “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” co-star Tatiana Maslany, wore “ICE Out” pins across press lines, studio shoots and other media appearances. Maslany wore two pins, the second representing “Artists for Ceasefire.”
“There is still genocide happening in Gaza,” she told Variety. “And as much as there’s a ‘Trump peace plan,’ Israel has continued to kill Gazans and people in Palestine.”
She continued, “It feels like the lid has blown off. I think a lot of people are realizing for the first time that they can’t remove themselves from the people who this affects — because it affects everyone.”
The Sundance Film Festival was founded by Robert Redford in 1981 as a haven for independent thought and artist-driven storytelling outside the studio system. Esposito, who first met Robert and Amy Redford in the late 1990s at the Sundance Institute Labs in Provo Canyon, says the late actor didn’t speak truth to power so much as model it.
“Bob was subtler than that, he empowered people through his actions,” Esposito explained. He wasn’t interested in his ego to tell you how he felt about something because he knew better. He was interested in the process of independent film, how to nurture your voice. What does your voice tell you this should be? To me, that’s empowerment through action.”
English (US) ·