Earlier this summer, Sydney Sweeney made headlines for a controversial American Eagle campaign. For weeks, this campaign that played on the words jeans and genes has left people talking, as some have said it alludes to the idea of eugenics. While Sweeney hasn’t directly addressed this, PR experts and the people of the internet have. Meanwhile, she had a project come out on the 2025 movie schedule called Americana.
Now, amid all this, the film’s director and one of its stars, Halsey, have opened up about this movie being “gobbled up by the zeitgeist.”
Tony Tost Candidly Wrote About Americana Being ‘Gobbled Up By The Zeitgeist’
It’s important to note that Tost’s post about Americana’s release does not mention Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle controversy. However, his X post did address that he felt like it got drowned in the zeitgeist, he explained:
One of the great things about movies is that they outlive the zeitgeist into which they were released. As someone whose first film sorta got gobbled up by the zeitgeist, I’ll be curious to see how it’ll stand up after this moment is over. Hopefully fairly well!
He went on to explain in a thread that he wanted to make a “hidden gem.” In fact, he wrote about that desire in a Letterboxd post in 2022. Further explaining this idea, Tost wrote that he told people that his “ideal directing career was to string together a series of minor gems.”
However, while Americana wasn’t necessarily a flop, it didn’t perform like he wanted it to. To that point, the filmmaker explained how he’ll reflect on this experience as he moves forward in his career:
One picture in — I don’t know if a minor gem career is feasible these days. I think I’ve got to swing either bigger or smaller. Excited for people to find AMERICANA in the days/weeks/months/years to come. But also trying to internalize the many lessons learned from swing #1.
So, it seems like Tost is working to move forward after this experience that happened at the same time as his film’s star’s American Eagle controversy. Meanwhile, Halsey is defending the movie amid all this discourse.
Halsey Took To Instagram To Defend The Film And Its ‘Hardworking’ Crew
Over on Instagram, Halsey took to her stories on Thursday (via Daily Mail) to defend the film. She was seemingly calling out folks who were boycotting seeing the project over the controversy surrounding Sweeney. She wrote:
You should go see this movie. Because [Tony Tost] made an exceptional film, in honor of a genre he knows intimately. Because his work and his vision are greater than the 24 hr tabloid denim bullshit. He’s an incredible artist who made a great film with a group of hardworking, talented people. If you love cinema, than you should know that cinema comes first. This is cinema.
The report, which features screenshots of both stories, noted that Halsey deleted them.
Her other post read:
I do agree that our words are important in this climate. I don’t, however, think that it’s fair for the news cycle to predatorily rip a hardworking director and his hardworking crew for their film that is completely separate-from and unrelated-to a (pretty dumb) advertising take. If it’s not clear who the actual people I’m standing up for are, I’m sorry look closer.
She loudly supported her director and the crew that worked on the thriller that also starred Sweeney and Paul Walter Hauser. Meanwhile, she seemingly alluded to her co-star’s controversy and how it could have influenced people’s choice to go see Americana.
All around, this is a complex situation, and as it evolves, we’ll keep you posted.
Outside of Americana, Sweeney has two more movies coming out this year, including the mixed-reviewed Eden and the adaptation of The Housemaid. Meanwhile, Halsey is in the process of releasing videos for her songs “Gasoline” and “Drive.” As for Tony Tost, he wrote for Poker Face this year and seems to be moving forward to other projects.
If you are interested in seeing Americana, it is still playing in theaters.