Natalie Portman, Olivia Wilde Speak Out Against ICE at Sundance

Numerous celebrities expressed their frustration and sadness with the state of the United States after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed U.S. citizen Alex Pretti on Saturday. During Sundance Film Festival over the weekend, Natalie Portman, Olivia Wilde, and Edward Norton were among those who spoke up.

”What’s going on in this country right now is absolutely horrific,” Portman told Deadline while wearing “ICE Out” and “Be Good” pins. “What the federal government, Trump’s government, Kristi Noem, ICE — what they’re doing is really the worst of the worst of humanity. And then we have the best of humanity for the way people are showing up for each other in community, and Americans showing up to support each other and protect each other and fight against injustice.”

She added, “I could not be prouder to be American right now by the way the Americans are acting, and I could not be sadder to be American with the way the government behaving.”

Speaking to Variety on the red carpet ahead of the premiere of her new film The Invite, Wilde said, “We’re all here getting to celebrate something really beautiful and hopeful in film storytelling. But the world is hurting right now, and this country is hurting. And it’s appalling.”

She continued, “I’m appalled and sickened. We can’t go another day just sort of accepting this as our new norm. It’s outrageous. People are being murdered. And I don’t want to normalize seeing people being murdered on the Internet on film. It’s hideous. And so if we can do anything out here to support the movement to cast ICE out, to delegitimize this unbelievably criminal organization, then that’s what we should be doing.”

She noted that it was “inspiring” to see so many people protesting. “Americans are speaking up in huge numbers, and it’s dangerous to be a protester now and people are still going out to the streets, which is incredibly inspiring,” Wilde said.

Editor’s picks

https://twitter.com/Variety/status/2015234714073010358?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank

She noted, of wearing an “ICE Out” pin, “In a tiny way, wearing a pin does nothing but at least we’re able to show support.”

Norton sat down with Wilde and Seth Rogen to discuss The Invite with The Hollywood Reporter, and compared ICE to the Gestapo.

“These days it’s, ’What are we gonna do about mass Gestapo shooting American citizens?’” Norton said. “We are sitting here talking about movies while an illegal army is being mounted against U.S. citizens.”

Norton also told the Los Angeles Times, “These are not normal times. It’s like we have extrajudicial assaults on Americans and humans going on on a daily basis now. And it’s not OK. Even though all people kind of have to put one foot in front of the other and deal with the demands of the day, we cannot act like this is not happening.”

He added, “I think what they’re doing in Minnesota with the strike needs to expand. I think we should be talking about a national general economic strike until this is over.”

Trending Stories

Filmmaker Kogonada spoke ahead of the Sundance premiere of his film Zi and paid tribute to what was happening in Minneapolis over the weekend. “I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge everything that is happening in Minnesota,” he said. “I’m a believer in what [Roger] Ebert says, that cinema is an empathizing machine. In the darkest time, you hope that art doesn’t feel indulgent but that it deepens our sense of humanity. I feel like more than ever it is important to do that to counter what is happening around the world.”

Zoey Deutch told Variety, “I just feel like, for me, it’s impossible not to be thinking about the state of our country and the brutality of ICE. I feel so proud to be an American, seeing the way communities and people are coming together during this time. But I feel so ashamed at the same time to be an American, seeing how our government is handling things. I just want to stand with the amazing people of Minnesota.”