# So why are there no January 6 movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2026, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159 "2026-08-05T10:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/1 "2026-08-05T10:47:19Z")
Trying not to make it political here, wondering if there really are any in the works or, really, why an industry which is often not pro-Republican is not making them? Killed at the distribution level? I would have thought an indy might get out there. Are the actual facts that divisive in the US now? Even if so, perhaps a non-US production? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/2 "2026-08-05T11:07:00Z")
Are you asking about a documentary, or a fictional film set in the events of January 6? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/3 "2026-08-05T11:43:21Z")
> **[Sean Penn to direct January 6 drama with Bradley Cooper set to star](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/16/sean-penn-bradley-cooper-january-6-film)** > > Oscar-winning actor to write and direct fact-based movie that will follow a police officer mixed up in 2021 Capitol riot Aside from the above, I wonder if studios are waiting for the political dust to settle, so they can make their interpretation without Trump sending in the justice department, considering Trump is sueing the BBC for merely editing some footage. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/4 "2026-08-05T11:52:42Z")
That would be good reason not to make a movie about Jan 6 as a criminal insurrection. I wonder, though, if anyone had made a movie, however amateurish, about Jan 6 as heroic resistance against the forces of evil that had stolen an election. Wouldn‘t that have had a guaranteed niche market? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/5 "2026-08-05T11:58:21Z")
Well, Kevin Sorbo and Dean Cain are always available, following on from their success in [this blockbuster](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31888337/). ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/6 "2026-08-05T13:37:59Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > considering Trump is sueing the BBC for merely editing some footage. I know the US is now openly corrupt now (referring to Trump suing his own government and paying himself), but Trump famously does not pay much (if at all) for lawyers, so he doesn’t do well in cases. So it’s now a matter of making sure you pay YOUR lawyers and avoiding tall buildings, because its looking like the “Putin push” could become one of his tactics when he can’t really successfully sue him. The BBC lawsuit had absolutely no chance of succeeding, even with good lawyers, which he doesn’t seem to pay for anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/7 "2026-08-05T13:58:45Z")
They’re still waiting for [the rights to the title](https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-stupids-step-out-harry-g-allard?variant=39939832774690). ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/8 "2026-08-05T14:33:19Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > The BBC lawsuit had absolutely no chance of succeeding, even with good lawyers, which he doesn’t seem to pay for anyway. I will eat my hat if that lawsuit isn’t dropped before the mid-term elections. Trump wanted the BBC to roll over like the American broadcasters, law firms and universities that Trump threatened. The BBC did not cave and given what they are asking for in discovery, there is no way that Trump is handing that information to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/9 "2026-08-06T03:36:17Z")
Probably can’t find anyone willing to degrade themselves to play the … thing at the center. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/10 "2026-08-06T03:52:37Z")
They can do like they did for FDR in many many productions (I saw it in a Three Stooges recently)…show only the back of his head. Still…oh well. They’ll find a way. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/11 "2026-08-06T10:06:47Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Are the actual facts that divisive in the US now? Sure (sadly.) On the one hand, the President has pardoned most (if not all) of anyone convicted of a crime and has proposed a massive compensation fund for any insurrectionist … errr hero … who was in any way inconvenienced after Jan 6. From the viewpoint of the Rest of the World, a politician who lost an election sent an armed mob into the Capital to overthrow the legitimate Government using as much force as necessary. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/12 "2026-08-06T15:51:58Z")
I heard whispers of this. I wonder if it’s going to happen. If so, it should at least do as well as _Melania_. There are several documentary-style offerings available from the various streaming services. I couldn’t remember the name of specific one I caught part of one day when I was downstairs on my lunch break, but here are the four most promising results I got when I googled what I remembered seeing: - _Four Hours at the Capitol_ (Max / Hulu): A minute-by-minute, visceral breakdown of the breach using raw cellphone videos shot by insurrectionists, police body-worn cameras, and security feeds, combined with firsthand accounts from law enforcement and lawmakers. - _January 6th_ (Max / Discovery+): Directed by filmmakers Gédéon and Jules Naudet, this feature-length film places cameras directly with the first responders, D.C. police officers, and staffers inside the building as the events unspooled. - _Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol_ (The New York Times / YouTube): A forensic 40-minute visual investigation that synchronizes thousands of hours of rioter-filmed videos, unsealed police bodycam clips, and internal radio traffic to map the multi-point attack in real time. - _The Sixth_ (A24): An on-the-ground feature documentary centering on the personal perspectives and trauma of Washington D.C. citizens and frontline workers caught in the middle of the violence. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/13 "2026-08-06T16:42:11Z")
I think a lot of studios are either engaged in a merger or would like to be, and something this politically radioactive could make the people at the top a little gun-shy. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-are-there-no-january-6-movies/1032159/14 "2026-08-06T17:21:45Z")
The January 6th committee made a movie. It’s only about 11 minutes long, though. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/j8BS4dOu7Vs/maxresdefault.jpg "January 6 hearings: House committee shows montage of never-before-seen-video | LiveNOW from FOX") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8BS4dOu7Vs)