Lionsgate Tony Tost is defending his directorial feature debutAmericanain the wake of starSydney Sweeney's many controversies. Billed as a modern-day western, the film concerns an eclectic group of characters, including an aspiring country singer waitress (Sweeney) and military veteran (Paul Walter Hauser), who clash over the possession of a rare Native American artifact while in the crosshairs of criminals working on behalf of an antiquities dealer. The film opened to an estimated $500,000, inspiring much debate over whether it could becategorized as a box office bomb. The discourse, though, has largely centered around Sweeney's recent controversies, galvanized by her family's politics and a divisive American Eagle jeans ad. Tost lamented his film being "gobbled up by the zeitgeist" on social media, but said he was hopeful that the tides would change. 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! — Tony Tost (@tonytost)August 22, 2025 "One of the great things about movies is that they outlive the zeitgeist into which they were released," the director wrote. "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!" In a separate post, Tost added that even during the early post-production process, "I knew I was creating a 'hidden gem' type movie (as opposed to a blockbuster, or auteur masterpiece)." The film also starsHalsey,Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon, and Simon Rex. Lionsgate Want more movie news? Sign up forEntertainment Weekly's free newsletterto get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more. Sweeney, who broke out for her role as Cassie Howard on HBO'sEuphoria, first courted controversy in 2023 after photos emerged from her mother's 60th birthday featuring red MAGA-inspired hats. "There were so many misinterpretations,"she said of the photos that year. "The people in the pictures weren't even my family." That was followed by a controversialpartnership with Dr. Squatch involving limited-edition soapmarketed as Sweeney's bath water earlier this year, then the much morecontentious American Eagle ad campaignreleased last month, which played up the homophone "good jeans" and "good genes." Some critics accused the campaign of promoting eugenics during a particularly divisive era. President Donald Trump and his Vice President J.D. Vance even weighed in on the backlash, defending the actress and chalking it up to an overreaction from the "crazy" left. Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
