Who Wants to Be an American?
Being a member of the president’s Cabinet has always come with perks: VIP flights with no TSA lines, a fleet of chauffeur-driven SUVs and a personal security detail straight out of Men in Black. But now, in the Trump White House, one member of the administration may be getting a whole new sort of fringe benefit — her own reality show.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made scads of headlines recently when Daily Mail reported that her department was considering a pitch for The American, a reality series in which migrants would compete on live TV for U.S. citizenship. “My dream is to do every episode in a different state,” producer Rob Worsoff told a dumbfounded-looking Kaitlan Collins on CNN. “Like, if we’re in New York, we’re doing a pizza-making challenge. If we’re in Florida, we’re doing a rocket-launching challenge. … And I’m hoping every episode ends with a town hall meeting where people vote on which one of our future Americans they’d most like to represent their state.”
No, this isn’t a John Oliver gag. Worsoff — a reality vet with credits on Duck Dynasty and The Biggest Loser — couldn’t be more serious. Nor is Noem the first Trump insider to flirt with unscripted TV. In fact, she’s just the latest in what’s starting to feel like a MAGA mini trend.
In April, Donald Trump Jr. was reportedly being pitched by someone in the “Trump orbit” to host a Discovery Channel fishing show. That project never got off the dock, but at the time it was seen as a strategic move by WBD to build goodwill with the Trump White House. Then there’s Amazon’s $40 million docuseries about first lady Melania Trump — to be directed by Brett Ratner, onetime producing partner of former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Add in the fact that half of Trump’s Cabinet used to anchor Fox News, and the lines between politics and programming just keep getting blurrier and blurrier.
As for The American, a DHS spokesperson gave Rambling a characteristically Trumpian response: both a denial and a confirmation. “The reporting by the Daily Mail is completely false and an affront to respectable journalism,” said assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin, noting that the department gets hundreds of TV pitches a year — before acknowledging that the show was, in fact, in the “beginning stages” of the department’s review process.
Former First Lady of France Hits a Sour Note at Cannes
There was at least one diva who didn’t enjoy herself at Cannes this year. Former first lady of France Carla Bruni stormed out of the Chopard Trophy dinner at the Carlton Beach Club, where she’d been scheduled to perform. The glitzy May 16 affair — one of the festival’s most glamorous soirées — drew a constellation of stars, including Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Jeremy Strong and Juliette Binoche, along with Cannes power players Thierry Frémaux and Iris Knobloch.
The stage was set for what could’ve been a tense night with Jolie seated directly across from Quentin Tarantino — the director who helped her ex-husband Brad Pitt win an Oscar for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. But any awkwardness seemed to dissolve as the two were spotted chatting like old chums. Toward the end of the evening, though, just as Bruni was about to perform, things took an unfortunate turn. Upset by the loud music blaring from an adjacent beach club, Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife — “Carla of Arc,” as she’s sometimes referred to in the French press — walked out of the dinner, leaving her band onstage twiddling their instruments. “We had prepared five or six songs for the guests,” she posted on Instagram from the backseat of her departing ride. “We couldn’t play because the Carlton Beach decided to have a party, with no respect for the artist next door.” — Chris Gardner
Malibu’s Bleak Summer Outlook: No Access, No Tourists, No Business
The weather’s heating up in L.A., but Malibu’s restaurant patios are still mostly empty. Not because of the wildfire that scorched parts of the coast back in January, but because five months later, Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu’s main artery, is still effectively closed to outsiders, cutting off the bulk of tourist traffic that keeps the town’s businesses afloat. “If you leave Malibu and you’re anywhere else, the world has moved on,” says Helene Henderson, owner of Malibu Farm, the breezy, Instagram-famous eatery perched on the pier. “There’s no awareness that, oh, [Malibu] is still in this 911 catastrophic situation.” Business at Malibu Farm is down at least 50 percent — more on weekdays — and Henderson says half of her dinner reservations don’t show, likely turned back by roadblocks along PCH. “This year, there’s not going to be a summer cushion to carry us through the winter,” she says. “What we’re thinking here is, ‘How do we make it to spring 2026?’ ” Technically, there are still ways to reach Malibu: Malibu Canyon and Kanan Dume Road remain open via the 101, but confusion reigns. “The phone is ringing all day long” with people asking for directions, Henderson says. It’s a similar story down the road at Paradise Cove, where business is off by 50 to 60 percent. “Malibu is an island right now, 100 percent,” says assistant GM Tim Morris, who has resorted to what he calls “guerrilla marketing” on social media to let customers know they’re still open for business. There may be relief on the horizon. Gov. Gavin Newsom has promised to reopen one lane of PCH in each direction by the end of May. Morris is cautiously optimistic. “Traffic is going to be a nightmare,” he says, “but I’m excited for the shift in mentality. If PCH is open, people will realize that Malibu is open. With PCH closed, in their mind, Malibu is closed.” — Kirsten Chuba
This story appeared in the May 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
