‘Finding Dory’ Director Andrew Stanton and Voice Cast Reacts to Trump’s Screening of Pixar Film [UPDATED]
Here’s one for the history books: the first movie that Donald Trump screened during his term in the White House was Disney/Pixar’s Finding Dory. He held the screenings as mass protests raged around the United States (and in front of the White House) in opposition of Trump’s travel ban against refugees and citizens of certain Muslim-majority countries.
After news emerged about the screening, which began at 3pm Eastern time, many people on Twitter started asking the film’s director Andrew Stanton what he thought about Trump choosing his movie as the first film screened during his administration. Stanton has not directly addressed the situation, but has spent much of the afternoon retweeting other people’s posts that clearly express his opposition to the travel ban. At last count, he had retweeted nine messages, including the following ones:
Elderly Iraqi woman, mom of active US soldier, finally freed at JFK. 30+ hrs detained. Says she was handcuffed, mistreated. #MuslimBan pic.twitter.com/7z6csxT8c9
— AltDOJ (@alt_doj) January 29, 2017
Right now Washington D.C. is packed again with people protesting Trump's unAmerican racist nativism. A new generation is rising. #WeWillWin pic.twitter.com/idjBIik4e5
— Jerry Saltz (@jerrysaltz) January 29, 2017
With these retweets, Stanton joins Finding Dory’s co-director Angus Maclane, who had already started reposting tweets yesterday that expressed opposition to the travel ban.
Ellen DeGeneres, the voice of Dory, posted the following tweets after the news of Trump’s Finding Dory screening:
For me, America is great because of all the people who came here. Not in spite of them. #NoBan
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 29, 2017
P.S. My grandparents were immigrants. The woman making us pizza right now is Muslim. And I'm grateful for all of them. #NoBan
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 29, 2017
The only person who has directly addressed the screening of the film is Albert Brooks, the voice of Marlin, who tweeted the following:
Odd that Trump is watching Finding Dory today, a movie about reuniting with family when he's preventing it in real life.
— Albert Brooks (@AlbertBrooks) January 29, 2017
The reactions of the people involved with the film were relatively muted compared to the reaction from others on Twitter:
Official White House photo: pic.twitter.com/sbqTx4squN
— Dan Ozzi (@danozzi) January 29, 2017
Trump's 3pm "Finding Dory" screening ends, a story about families being reunited, he immediately affirms his stance on separating families. pic.twitter.com/Bc8ihifttn
— Maggie Jordan: (@MaggieJordanACN) January 29, 2017
Trump is hosting a screening of FINDING DORY. A film about compassion, love, tolerance. I say 15 mins till he switches to HUMAN CENTIPEDE 3.
— Bilge Ebiri (@BilgeEbiri) January 29, 2017
according to the public white house schedule, you watched Finding Dory, & then immediately started tweeting about WW3. honestly fascinating. https://t.co/RYl7oGzW5j
— Tyler Oakley (@tyleroakley) January 29, 2017
UPDATE (Monday, 9:30pm PT): On her daytime talk show, Ellen DeGeneres addressed the White House screening of Finding Dory, pointing out that the messages in the Disney/Pixar film were at odds with Trump’s travel ban:
“Even though Dory gets into America, she ends up separated from her family, but the other animals help Dory. Animals that don’t even need her. Animals that don’t even have anything in common with her. They help her, even though they’re completely different colors, because that’s what you do when you see someone in need — you help them.”
Watch the entire clip below:
Wanna know what I thought about Trump watching "Finding Dory" in the White House? Here ya go. https://t.co/43PHBjhu40
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 31, 2017
