‘Warriors’ Director Declares ‘Woke Environment’ Is ‘Death To The Arts’ After Seeing Action Movie Deemed Transphobic

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Today’s “woke environment” is killing artistic expression, filmmaker Walter Hill declared this week.

The director behind films like The Warriors and 48 Hrs. faced backlash over his 2016 action movie The Assignment, which followed an assassin seeking revenge after being forced through gender reassignment story. Critics blasted the film as transphobic at the time.

In an interview this week with Moviemaker Magazine promoting his latest picture, the western Dead for a Dollar, Hill looked back on the controversy and blasted wokeism‘s effect on creative expression. He also dismissed criticisms of The Assignment, saying it was likely “too early” for a “comic-book style” film on the subject, but arguing it only “reinforces trans theory.”

“What was unfortunate is there’s nothing in the movie that violates trans theory, and it reinforces trans theory. That is to say, what you are inside your head is what you are,” the filmmaker said. “I did not completely understand it was too soon to deal with trans stories in a comic-book style film. We’re still in the phase where it is perceived that it must be treated as hallowed ground. I miscalculated. The woke environment is still very pervasive.”

The “problem” with his last movie, according to Hill, was simply “timing.”

Hill’s other credits include producing the Alien franchise and directing the pilot for HBO’s highly praised Deadwood.

The director told Moviemaker Magazine that the current “woke environment” is deadly to the arts.

“You’re giving me a chance to say this: this woke environment, politically correct environment, is a terrible thing. And it hurts,” he said. “It is death to the arts and it’s death to creativity. There’s no question that there were injustices in the past. Nobody is arguing that point. But how you redress it is how you treat the future.”

Hill isn’t changing the way he makes movies in the face of the culture though. When discussing his latest film, he said he worked to avoid the film containing a “2022 debate” on issues of race and women in his western, which stars Christoph Waltz.

“I thought that I would anchor the issues of race and feminine possession in a man’s world within the period of that time, and not have a 2022 debate,” he said. “I wanted an 1897 debate,” says Hill. “I think that’s only fair to the audience and the characters.”