Oscar Nominee: You Couldn’t Make ‘The Godfather’ Today

Dave Rubin loves Hollywood. Just not this Hollywood.

The “Rubin Report” host misses a time when the film industry created indelible stories we could watch over and again. And, presumably, Rubin isn’t alone in his thinking.

It’s why the film industry, despite occasionally smashes like “Zootopia 2,” “A Minecraft Movie” and “Sinners,” is struggling at the theatrical level.

Chazz Palminteri thinks he knows why.

The veteran star/screenwriter, who earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for “Bullets Over Broadway,” shared his worries about Hollywood with Rubin earlier this week.

“It’s very hard for me to find a new movie that I walk out and I’m just knocked out by,” Rubin said. “Back in the day, there were five new movies [coming out], and four of them were great, but it just doesn’t seem like that anymore.”

Palminteri didn’t disagree.

“Back then, they made movies where the artist made the movies,” Palminteri began. “Now, you have to be careful of what you say in a movie. If it doesn’t fit a certain criteria, they won’t show it. I hope it gets away from that.”

“‘Godfather’ couldn’t be made today. ‘Midnight Cowboy’ couldn’t be made today,” the actor said of seminal films with challenging themes, anti-hero protagonists and, presumably, a lack of on-screen diversity.

Rubin pressed the film and stage veteran, asking if the change reflected a shift in consumer tastes or was confined to Tinsel Town.

“I think it’s both,” he said.

The actor continued, praising Hollywood for being more inclusive of artists from different backgrounds, which he sees as a necessary and positive step. It’s one he personally embraces when writing scripts.

“But if you don’t have enough of one ethnic group in the movie, they shy away from it,” he said of Hollywood power brokers. That could reflect industry tastes or recent Oscar rules that mandate Best Picture candidates check select Identity Politics boxes.

His thoughts on the latter subject are rare, at least in the public arena.

RELATED: JOE ROGAN: ‘I HATE IDENTITY POLITICS’

The vast majority of stars have stayed silent on the diversity mandate issue. Richard Dreyfus may be the most prominent artist who has spoken out on the subject.

Those quotas, the “Jaws” alum said, make him want to vomit.

Palminteri wasn’t that blunt on the subject, but his perspective shared a similar agreement.

“You can’t dictate art like that,” he said.