U.S. actor Steve Buscemi calls the protest movement against Donald Trump’s administration in the United States “very patriotic” and says, “It’s important that people don’t give up because I think that’s what they want and there’s a lot we can do.”
“It’s important not to remain silent because our current administration wants people to self-censure, to self-deport, to not feel welcome by a certain part of the population,” Buscemi said at a press conference during the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival, which is being held in the Spanish city of Palma and awards the performer with the Icon Award.
Steve Buscemi encourages not to give up on Trump
Huge amount of love in the room for Steve Buscemi tonight as he picked up his Icon Award at Evolution Mallorca from Colm Meaney – he said he felt a bit taken aback when someone asked how he felt about his “lifetime achievement award” – “I still have more to achieve!” pic.twitter.com/SUHuseSc8T
– Amber Wilkinson (@NinjaWorrier) October 21, 2025
The actor, director and screenwriter assured that “people have much more in common than the current administration would have us believe”.
He explained, “Basically, everyone wants a decent income, to be free and live their lives, to have basic human rights and basic medical care.”
“I think some people want to divide us and it is not healthy for our country or for democracy,” he warned.
He also defended that, although perhaps for many it is not important “what an actor says”, he also expresses it “as a citizen and as a human being”.
Buscemi, honored at the Spanish festival for a career with titles such as ‘Fargo’, ‘Reservoir Dogs’ or ‘The Great Lebowsky’, stressed when collecting the award that cinema is the result of collaboration.
Challenging characters
In an interview with EFE, he detailed that he likes working with people, he loves collaboration and when people come together and create something.
“Even when you work with directors with a unique vision, they need other people,” he explained.
He celebrated having had the opportunity to work in different genres and highlighted that with streaming platforms “there are many more opportunities for actors to get work” even though “people used to go more to the movies”.
“For every character I play, I try to look for characters that are challenging. I never ask myself what I haven’t done, I just trust that something interesting and surprising will come up,” he stressed, emphasizing that the key is in the story
“I always look for scripts that I think I’m going to like, but you never know if they’ll adapt well, if they’ll get good distribution and if people will see them, or if they’ll come out as you read it on the page,” he added.
He gave as an example one of his biggest hits, ‘Reservoir Dogs’, which failed to win any awards at the Sundance Film Festival.
“In fact, there were screenings where people got up and walked out. And now we all know what happened,” he says of Quentin Tarantino’s classic, adding that the Cohen brothers’ ‘Fargo’ “took about five years to gain a following.”
So you never know, but I like working with people who I'm going to have a good time with and who will challenge me. And if it's successful, it's the icing on the cake
Steve Buscemi
With information from EFE
