Next year we’re having an Anti-Communist Film Festival. Since the project was announced a couple weeks ago, I’ve heard from several people in Hollywood. Some are directors, some are actors, some are in the business in other ways. Most but not all are conservatives, People are ready for this.
One name I would love to invite is James Woods. As people on X know, Woods is a conservative, and a vocal, insightful, and funny one. This has cost him in Hollywood. As Woods recently told Megyn Kelly on her SiriusXM radio show, he was “gently” asked not to promote Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Woods was an executive producer of the film, which made $975 million worldwide and is the highest-grossing biopic in history. It won Oscars for best picture, director, actor, supporting actor and more “When ‘Oppenheimer’ came out, there was a discussion about my Twitter, and it was gently suggested that I basically remain invisible, which was painful,” Woods said, claiming that his outspoken support for Donald Trump made him radioactive for “Oppenheimer’s” release and awards campaign. Woods says he “took one for the team.”
Well James, hide no more. I’d like to offer you a VIP pass to the Anti-Communist Film Festival, which I am hoping to host in the fall of 2026. We are talking to movie theaters, fundraising, and negotiating licensing fees at this point. The centerpiece will be the 20th anniversary of the great film The Lives of Others.
I’ve probably seen more James Woods movies, and more often, than James Woods himself. I worked in a movie theater in the 1980s when I was in college, a great art deco place that had been converted into a pre-Alamo beer-and-pizza hall that showed films, Videodrome, Salvador, True Believer - I saw these movies dozens of times. In every one of them, Woods was by far the most interesting and dynamic thing on screen.
I also always wanted to talk to James Woods about doing a remake of The Hard Way. The 1991 film stars Woods and Michael J. Fox. It has a set-up that, if done in 2026, could be a politically-incorrect hit. Woods plays John Moss, a tough New York City cop who is trying to apprehend a serial killer called The Party Crasher (Stephen Lang). Fox is Nick Lang, a young, obnoxious, and spoiled Hollywood movie star. Lang, a former child actor, is tired of playing dumb roles and not being taken seriously. He wants to do something real - a flesh and blood character who lives, breathes, and “throws up.”
So Lang takes a role playing a cop. To research the part, he goes to New York to tag along with Moss.
The Hard Way, which was recently reissued on a special blu-ray, is still funny - maybe even more so. Fox’s Lang lives in a Hollywood mansion surrounded by beautiful women but is unable to operate the remote on a TV. Moss is all rough language and hard edges. Moss is exactly what James Woods is in real life - what director John Badham called “a profane, vituperative, highly energetic guy.”
When he first learns that the famous Nick Lang is going to be joining him on the beat, Moss is less than enthusiastic: “I have no time to babysit a Hollywood rump wrangler.” When Lang appears, Moss, who wants to go get a drink, tries to leave him behind, telling the actor to “do what they do in Hollywood: rum drinks, fern bar, and gerbil racing.” Anyone who has followed Woods’s Twitter account knows this dialogue is not far from the real Woods, an uncompromising conservative. It’s not surprising when director Badham notes that many of the scenes were improvised.
What makes The Hard Way tonic even decades later is that it does what Hollywood is so reluctant to do: it makes fun of celebrities. Actors were once patriotic (Jimmy Stewart), elegant (Elizabeth Taylor), and often had a playful air that conveyed they knew not to take themselves too seriously (Sean Connery). Now, every time an actor takes a role requiring them to play a different nationality, there are cries of "appropriation." The female leads are all Mary Sues who excel at everything (like Rey in Star Wars). The awards ceremonies have become left-wing political rallies.
One great thing about The Hard Way is that it pokes fun at celebrities, but also ultimately acknowledges their humanity. We laugh at Michael J. Fox’s pettiness and entitlement and obliviousness to real life in the movie, but we also grow to like him. With his fake toy gun and his aping of Moss’s mannerisms, he knows that there is something missing in his soul - and his groin. As producer Cohen puts it, Fox zeroes in on the problem: “They are at the tip of the pyramid, and everybody in the entire business gets up every day wondering how to write and produce a film that will attract one of these guys. They never hear the word no.” Moss softens towards Lang as Lang proves willing to put himself in danger and begins to change. When Lang tells Moss that actors hate bad reviews more than anything else, Moss goes on TV to call The Party Crasher, the serial killer he’s chasing, “a pervert.” The Party Crasher “doesn’t even have the equipment to be a man,” sneers Moss. Lang is giving smart advice. The two begin to become fiends, or at least kind of respect each other.
Like I said, I’d love the chance to talk to Woods about The Hard Way and his other films in person. Your passes will be waiting for you at the box office, James.
(NSFW, language -- Ed)
Note: You can contribute support for the festival by donating at the GoFundMe page for the project.
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