Over the weekend, a trailer for a blatantly right-wing biopic about president Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, made the rounds. It looks all kinds of bonkers. Also, it’s directed by a voice actor from Bungie’s Halo trilogy. Hey, let’s all give it up for the gaming angle!
The film, titled My Son Hunter, has been threatened since late last year. It’s being brought to us by production company The Unreported Society, which “strives to broadcast truth that the media tries to cover up.” (Former projects including ObamaGate the Movie and a podcast about the Harvey Weinstein trial.) My Son Hunter stars London mayoral hopeful (1.9% of the vote) Laurence Fox in the titular role, with ‘80s soap star John James playing Joe Biden. Actor and former MMA fighter Gina Carano also appears in a role that’s billed as “Secret Service Agent” but really just appears to be one of those fourth-wall-breaking narrator roles. It’s being distributed by Breitbart, the far-right commentary site.
Narratively, My Son Hunter will, to borrow The Unreported Society’s logline, “tell the story of the Biden Family Corruption through the eyes of Hunter Biden” (capitalisation unchanged). Footage in the trailer seems to portray the cacophony of incongruous, unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden and Ukraine. It’s like a right-wing echo chamber come to life as dramatically colour-balanced cinematography. You’ve gotta see it to believe it:
In the director’s chair is Robert Davi, an actor who connoisseurs of ‘80s and ‘90s cinema will know as a familiar face who appeared in everything from The Goonies to Die Hard, and made perhaps his most notable appearance as the villain in the 1990 James Bond film Licence to Kill. But you may also recognise him as the voice behind ‘Rtas Vadum, the Covenant shipmaster from Halo 2 and Halo 3. A key ally of the Arbiter, Vadum spearheads the Elites’ defection from the Prophets in an effort to back humanity on the quest of “making it so all sentient life in the galaxy isn’t eliminated in an instant.” Vadum also gets the trilogy’s “then it is an even fight” line, which was, back then, a requisite for all action series.
Carano, of course, appeared in The Mandalorian as a bounty hunter opposite Pedro Pascal’s leading character. Over the past few years, she repeatedly used her social media accounts to peddle dangerous right-wing talking points (transphobia, covid denialism, some hints of anti-Semitism). Last February, both Lucasfilm and Carano’s agency dropped her.
“The script [for My Son Hunter] was instantly intriguing and side-achingly hilarious to me, especially after being newly exposed to the political realm in 2020,” Carano told Deadline. “Robert Davi is someone who reached out to me as soon as I was ‘cancelled’ in February 2021.”
My Son Hunter appears to have had the opposite of its intended effect, with commenters across social media platforms noting how damn cool the trailer makes Hunter Biden look. It also permanently tarnished one of the coolest characters from my favourite game. Tsk tsk, thanks Obama.
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