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Pedro Pascal, star of indie director Ari Aster’s new pandemic-era neo-Western Eddington, said on Saturday that storytelling and self-expression were the perfect way to fight against political turmoil in the United States.

“F*** the people that try to make you scared. And fight back. This is the perfect way to do so in telling stories. Don’t let them win,” said the 50-year-old.

“Fear is the way that they win, for one. And so keep telling the stories and keep expressing yourself and keep fighting to be who you are,” the Chilean-born actor told journalists at the Cannes Film Festival the day after the film’s premiere.

Pascal, known for his role in the dystopian video game adaptation The Last of Us, added that it was “far too intimidating” for him to address a question about US President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.

Trump has launched a crackdown on illegal immigration and has also detained and moved to deport some legal permanent US residents. His policies have triggered a rash of lawsuits and protests.

“Obviously, it’s very scary for an actor participating in a movie to sort of speak to issues like this,” Pascal said when asked whether he feared that the US could completely close down to all forms of migration, reported The Guardian. “I want people to be safe and protected, and I want very much to live on the right [side] of history.”

He added, “I’m an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the US after asylum in Denmark and if it weren’t for that, I don’t know what would have happened to us. And so I stand by those needing protection, always.”

When asked if he was concerned if the political message of films could be used against cast members when they tried to re-enter the US, Aster said: “The truth is, I’m scared of everything. All the time. So, yeah. The tongue is sort of in the cheek in that answer, but it’s also true.”

The US president became one of the main talking points in Cannes this week after announcing on May 5 that he wanted 100 per cent tariffs on movies “produced in foreign lands”.

Acting legend Robert de Niro, who accepted a Cannes Lifetime Achievement award on Tuesday, also urged an audience of A-list directors and actors to resist “America’s philistine president”.

Eddington stars Pascal as a small-town mayor campaigning against a down-on-his-luck sheriff played by Joaquin Phoenix in a New Mexico town where tensions are simmering over COVID-19 mask policies and the Black Lives Matter protests.

Dune: Part Two star Austin Butler and Emma Stone of La La Land also star in the film set to hit US theatres on July 18.

Aster, who made his name with elevated horror films Hereditary and Midsommar, said he wanted to capture how the US felt during the pandemic, and now, with his latest film.

“It feels bad and I’m very worried,” said the US director.

“We’re on a dangerous road and I feel like we’re living through an experiment that is going, it’s gone wrong.”