Emma Thompson has reflected on the time when US President Donald Trump asked her to go for dinner, joking that she “could have changed the course of American history”.
The actor recalled the moment while speaking at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland on Saturday (August 9). She remembered that, while filming the 1998 political comedy Primary Colors – which was loosely based on Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign – she received a call from Trump.
“A phone rang in my trailer, and it was Donald Trump,” she said, per Hollywood Reporter. “I thought it was a joke. ‘Hi, it’s Donald Trump here.’ I said: ‘How can I help you?’ I thought he needed directions. He said: ‘I would love for you to stay in one of my beautiful places, and maybe we could have dinner.”
At the time, Thompson was going through a divorce from her first husband, actor Kenneth Branagh.
“I realised that on that very day my divorce had finally come through,” she continued. “I bet he has people looking all over for suitable people he could take out, for all these nice divorcees — I mean, he found the number of my trailer! That’s stalking! So yes, I could have gone on a date with Donald Trump. I could have changed the course of American history!”
Thompson previously shared the anecdote in 2017, telling Swedish television host Fredrik Skavlan: “I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was on my own and I just said: ‘OK, well I’ll get back to you! Thank you so much for ringing.’”
Skavlan responded: “You could be the First Lady. You could have stopped him!” Thompson said at the time that she had still not met Trump in person.
Trump has been enmeshed with entertainment news in recent weeks after he celebrated CBS’ decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s Late Show. Colbert has since jabbed at him, recently telling the politician to “go fuck yourself” and celebrating an episode of South Park which portrayed Trump as having a micro penis.
Elsewhere, Thompson was recently spotted in the crowd at a Paris Paloma show, singing along to her feminist anthem ‘Labour’.