Hollywood star Alec Baldwin, who has appeared in news headlines over the past couple of years due to a fatal shooting incident on the set of the recent “Rust” film, claimed that the American people are “very uninformed about reality” during an appearance at the Turin Film Festival on Monday.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 66-year-old actor, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Torino Film Festival in Italy, warned on Monday that Americans are influenced by the media’s portrayal of news.
“Television news in the United States is a business. They have to make money,” Baldwin told reporters during a Monday press conference. “There’s a hole. There’s a vacuum. There is a gap, if you will, in information for Americans.”
The Hollywood star added, “Americans are very uninformed about reality – what’s really going on. With climate change, Ukraine, Israel… You name it, all the biggest topics in the world, Americans have an appetite for a little bit of information.”
Baldwin told reporters that he believes the information “vacuum” in the United States is “filled by the film industry.”
“Not just the independent film industry, not just the documentary film industry – which are very important around the world,” Baldwin said. “But by narrative films, as well, where the filmmakers and the buyers, the studios, and the networks and the streamers, are willing to go that way. They’re willing to try it.”
In addition to claiming that Americans are not fully informed about reality, The Hollywood Reporter said Baldwin also addressed the current state of politics in the United States. Despite being asked about President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming administration, the Hollywood star did not directly address Trump in his response to reporters on Monday.
According to The Hollywood reporter, Baldwin said the United States faces “many challenges,” including the environment, different energy sources, and the issue of widespread plastic.
“There are plastic molecules in every corner of the planet,” Baldwin stated. “These are the real problems to solve.”
Highlighting policies that favor alternative energy sources, Baldwin added, “We must force states to work on alternative energy sources. But we will never get rid of oil and gas. Can you imagine an ambulance car or a fire department car that runs on electricity and has to be refueled at a charging station?”
