Pop singer Halsey is speaking out in defense of the cast and crew of "Americana" after the film's weak box office debut and its link to costar Sydney Sweeney.
The indie thriller, directed by Tony Tost in his feature debut, grossed just $500,000 in its opening weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter. But Halsey insists the film and the team behind it deserve more recognition than headlines about Sweeney's recent ad campaign.
"You should go see this movie because @tonytost made an exceptional film, in honor of a genre he knows intimately," Halsey wrote Thursday on Instagram Stories. "His work and his vision are greater than the 24-hour gossip tabloid denim [expletive]."
The singer, who makes her acting debut in the film, added: "He's an incredible artist who made a great film with a group of hardworking, talented people. If you love cinema, then you should know that cinema comes first. This is cinema."
Her comments come after Sweeney faced cheers and backlash for an American Eagle commercial released in July. In the campaign, the actor quipped, "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring. ... My jeans are blue."
Critics accused the brand of promoting eugenics through its wordplay. American Eagle later defended the commercial, stating: "'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans' is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story."
Meanwhile, the American Eagle stock soared.
Halsey acknowledged the sensitivity around language in advertising, but "I don't think it's fair for the news cycle to predatorily rip a hardworking director and his hardworking crew for this film that is completely separate from a (pretty dumb) advertising take."
Tost, meanwhile, suggested the movie's legacy may extend beyond its troubled release window.
"One of the great things about movies is that they outlive the zeitgeist into which they were released," he wrote on X. "As someone whose first film sorta got gobbled up by the zeitgeist, I'll be curious to see how it'll stand up after this moment is over."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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