Famous actor, William H. Macy, reportedly said that Hollywood’s depiction of violence is harming our society.
The “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” actor said movie scenes showing numerous killings are completely unnecessary, and noted that it’s far more dramatic to kill just one person in a feature film, according to People. He reportedly spoke candidly about his belief that over-killing is what modern television and modern movies are getting wrong, during a recent episode of Brett Goldstein’s “Films To Be Buried With” podcast posted Wednesday.
“I swear to God, you kill one person, there’s nothing more dramatic than that,” he said, the outlet reported. “You kill 18 people, it’s just porn. The only thing you can do to make that more dramatic is kill 18 more.”
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 13: William H. Macy visits the Jim Norton and Sam Roberts show at SiriusXM Studios on November 13, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
Macy offered more personal insight as to why he believes the body count should be toned down in the entertainment industry.
“I think Hollywood is doing a lot of damage to the world with our portrayal of violence,” he said on the podcast, according to People.
Macy has written and directed movies and is an esteemed Oscar nominee. He believes he can do better, and demonstrate his beliefs in lowering the number of deaths in movies by doing this himself, People reported. He reportedly noted that he pitched an idea to Goldstein to highlight an example of how things can be changed.
“You take three episodes to have you fall in love with one of the major characters and then shoot him,” he suggested, according to the outlet. “But don’t write him off the show.”
“And every week, you can see what a bullet does to a human body. You can see how it wrecks his marriage… the deep, dark depressions,” Macy said, according to People.
He reportedly went on to say he is writing his next project, a Western, which he’s hoping will also star his 23-year-old daughter, Sophia, who he had with his wife, Felicity Huffman. He explained how he drafted the script and emphasized his desire to make the film more historically accurate, and how he aimed to keep the kill-count low, the outlet reported.
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 06: William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman attend the 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 6, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)
“When I first started off, there were nine bodies on page four,” he said, according to People. ” I lobbied for us to go back to the real West and not to Westerns. Don’t imitate films.” (RELATED: Quentin Tarantino Movies Draws A Clear Moral Line On Murder In Films)
Macy reportedly admitted that his dedication to decreasing deaths in film and his desire to tone down Hollywood’s “portrayal of violence” has been met with some challenges.
“Cost me a lot of work,” he said, the outlet reported.
