Actor Sylvester Stallone said he turned down US President Donald Trump's offer to become a special Hollywood envoy, but later learned from television news that he had been appointed to the role anyway, infohub.kz reports.
According to Stallone, he had met Trump in person well before that and discussed the job. At the time, he made it clear right away that it was not for him.
"I said, 'Thanks and ciao,' because it's impossible. Hollywood is working and will continue to develop. It's a corporate structure, and corporate people won't listen to me when I tell them about finances," the actor said in an interview with The Times.
Yet when Trump created the position in early 2025, he still publicly announced that Stallone, along with Mel Gibson and Jon Voight, would become special envoys in Hollywood. The star of "Rambo" had already declined the offer by then and found out about his appointment entirely by chance.
"One evening I was watching TV and heard: 'Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight will...' And I was like, 'What? Excuse me? Seriously?' If they had at least asked me, I had already said it was impossible. Hollywood is structured like 'feudal states,' where each major studio has its own 'kingdom.' You can't just come in and tell six studios how to work," the actor recalled.
Interestingly, actor Jon Voight and director Mel Gibson readily accepted their positions, though they also learned of the appointments by chance. Voight is now actively advocating for federal tax incentives for American film and television production. And Gibson, as part of his work, proposed a co-production agreement between the US and Italy.
By the way, it is now becoming clear how Gibson is using his new connections. Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle wrote that the director shot a sequel to "The Passion of the Christ" in Italy more than 20 years after the release of the original film. Filming took place in several cities: Rome, Bari, Ginosa, Craco, Brindisi and Matera.