2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
‘I could have changed the course of US history had I accepted Donald Trump's offer of a dinner date,' says actor Emma Thompson
The 66-year-old Love Actually actor recalled that the incident occurred while she was filming the 1998 political comedy Primary Colors, which was loosely based on Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.
Speaking at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, she said: 'A phone rang in my trailer, and it was Donald Trump.
'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.''
Thompson at that point had been going through a lengthy divorce from her first husband, Belfast actor Kenneth Branagh.
'I realised that on that very day my divorce has finally come through,' she added. '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.'
She previously shared the anecdote in 2017, telling Swedish TV 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 joked: '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. The Nanny McPhee star has been married to actor Greg Wise since 2003. They first met while they were filming Sense and Sensibility in 1995.
