Tapper on Hollywood Kowtowing to China: It’s Profits Above All Else

EXCERPT:

SCHWARTZEL: "It was a costly change. The movie had finished filming with the story being China invading the U.S. in this remake. Of course, in the original, it was the Soviets. This time, they updated it for the 2010s and made it China, and then when China made it clear that they were going to be very angry if this movie came out as it was shot, MGM spent a million dollars hiring a visual effects firm here in Burbank to go in and swap out the flags, swap out the dialogue, and make it a North Korean invasion. Now, critics and even the writers of the film itself pointed out it was a little less plausible than a Chinese invasion, but nonetheless, this lesson was absorbed by all of Hollywood because ever since then, that movie came out in 2012, since then, it’s been more than a decade we have not had a major studio put a movie into production with China as the villain." 

TAPPER: "Of course not. Profits above all else. Erich Schwartzel, author of Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy. Thank you so much. Best of luck with the book."