British stars enter debate about using Oscars to criticise Donald Trump

It has become the question dividing Hollywood’s stars; to protest or not to protest?

Now, with cinema royalty gathering in Los Angeles for the Oscars, the British contingent has weighed into the debate of whether to use the Academy Awards ceremony to make a stand against President Donald Trump.

And they appear to be as split over the issue as their American counterparts.

At a pre-Oscar’s party held in honour of this year’s British nominees several UK stars and industry figures urged their colleagues to speak out against Mr Trump’s policies.

David Harewood, who starred as the director of the CIA in Homeland and went on to appear in the acclaimed BBC drama The Night Manager, said he endorsed any Oscar winners who took the opportunity to criticise the President.

"Any attempt to bash Trump is good," he said. "It's going to be a fun night. Definitely get your recorders out for some fun speeches."

But Neil Corbould, whose work as a special effects supervisor on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been nominated for an Academy Award, said the Oscars ceremony was the wrong place to start making political points.

"It should be for the film people I think," he said. "Political is another platform.”

Director David Mackenzie, whose Hell Or High Water, starring Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine, has earned four Academy Award nominations, including best picture, said he feared any political statements would be diluted by the “babble” surrounding the Oscars.

He said: "It's interesting. I think there's a lot of politicising going on at the moment. I hope the message doesn't get diluted by too much babble so I have mixed feelings about that."

However, Cara Speller, the British producer of Pear Cider And Cigarettes, which is nominated for best animated short film, said artists had a "responsibility to speak out".

"I won't be doing that. Other people will put it much better than me,” she said. “But I think that's great and I think it's important actually. Our very way of life is being threatened and curtailed.”

Sunday night's 89th Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre is expected to be dominated by political speeches against the US President’s policies, particularly his travel ban on people from seven mainly Muslim countries, his revoking of environmental protection laws and his attacks on the press.

Jessie J, the London-born singer who performed at the Film Is Great event, said the Oscars were a "perfect situation" to address important political issues.

She said: "Artists and performers and people in the limelight have to reflect the times. It is crucial for artists to reflect the times.

"For people to be able to have freedom in their speeches is a perfect situation to talk about what people are avoiding talking about. If you're not outraged, you're not listening."

The Film Is Great reception was thrown by British Consul General Chris O’Connor at the fashionable West Hollywood restaurant Fig & Olive, in Melrose Place, where a special celebratory menu was laid on by Gordon Ramsay.

Among other guests were Minnie Driver, the director John Landis and the French model and actress Gaia Weiss, star of Mary Queen of Scots and the Legend of Hercules.

There’s a fair chance a British actor will walk away from Sunday evening with a golden statuette.

Dev Patel is second favourite for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Lion, where he plays an Indian who, having been adopted by an Australian couple as a small child, goes home to find his real family.

At 40-1 Andrew Garfield, who was born in Los Angeles but raised in Britain, is an outside contender for best actor for Hacksaw Ridge.

In a stronger position is Naomie Harris, who plays the part of Paula, a crack addict mother in Moonlight, whose searing performance has won her a nomination as best supporting actress. At 16-1 she is second favourite.

The Irish actress Ruth Negga is 33/1 to win Best Actress for her part in Loving, about a mixed race couple who defy strict segregation laws in 1950s Virginia.

Friday night's Film Is Great event followed a rally in protest at President Trump’s travel ban attended by some of Hollywood’s leading stars, including Jodie Foster and Michael J Fox.

Speaking outside the Beverly Hills headquarters of the United Talent Agency (UTA), which cancelled its Oscars party to stage the protest, Foster, star of The Silence of the Lambs,  Taxi Driver and The Accused, said: "This year is a very different year and it's time to show up. It's time to engage.

"We know the first attack on democracy is an assault on free expression and civil liberties and this relentless war on truth.”

Ms Foster, who has also won praise for her work as a director, notably on Money Monster, added: “No matter where you're born and no matter who you voted for, red or blue, whether you're white, black or brown and all the colours of the identity rainbow - this is our time to resist."

Also addressing the rally was the former British foreign secretary David Miliband, now chief executive of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), who appealed to America’s sense of humanity to address “a refugee crisis the likes of which has never been seen before”.

The President appeared to hit out at the actors' UTA rally, writing on Twitter: "Maybe the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN should have their own rally. It would be the biggest of them all!"

Mr Trump’s opponents in what is often dismissively referred to as La La Land face a backlash of their own.

One Arizona Republican group called on the “backbone and decent people of America” to stand up against the “bitter people of the entertainment industry.”

ABC, which is broadcasting the awards, hopes that thanks to the controversy viewing figures will be higher than last year’s 34.4 million.

But Mr Trump’s supporters urged TV viewers to switch off the Oscars coverage should any stars use their acceptance speeches to attack the President.

That could mean a lot of people scrambling for the remote control.