The Purge Election Year: 10 Things You Didn’t Know
By Jeremy Dick
The Purge: Election Year (Universal)
1. Donald Trump directly influenced the title of the movie
While Donald Trump wasn’t exactly a source of inspiration when it came to writing the movie, it’s still hard not to think of him and his campaign when watching The Purge: Election Year. Even Frank Grillo, who plays the lead character Leo Barnes, has recognized the similarities between Donald Trump and the President in Election Year, although he insists it was purely by accident. As mentioned earlier, the role had already been written before Trump won the nomination.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Grillo detailed how the movie wasn’t even originally subtitled Election Year. That idea came about when the studio saw how chaotic the USA’s real-life election year is shaping up to be, mostly thanks to the outrageousness of Donald Trump, and realized they could capitalize on it by tying the movie into it.
Next: A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010): 10 Things You Didn't Know
As the kicker, the official slogan for Election Year is “Keep America Great”, which was iterated in an ad campaign before the movie was released. In the form of a political ad praising the Purge, multiple Americans of all races and ages talked about how they take part in the annual event as their civic duty, with the ad concluding with the message to “Keep America Great.”
Obviously, that’s a direct play on Trump’s real-life campaign slogan, which is, of course, “Make America Great Again”.