Back in the ‘90s, two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson had the Sense and Sensibility to decline a dinner invitation from then-Jeffrey Epstein bestie and tabloid real estate mogul Donald Trump.
At least, that’s how Thompson recounted the awkward phone call during the Locarno International Film Festival, which took place from August 6–16 in Switzerland.
Thompson told the audience about Trump calling her while she was filming the 2018 political drama-comedy Primary Colors starring John Travolta and Kathy Bates.
The movie, based on real life, was a sensationalized depiction of Bill Clinton’s 1992 salacious presidential campaign, told through the eyes of journalist Joe Klein. Obviously, names were changed because Thompson played the presidential candidate's wife, Susan Stanton, who was inspired by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton.
Thompson painted the scene in her trailer:
“He said, ‘Hello, this is Donald Trump.’ I thought it was a joke and asked: ‘How can I help you?’ Maybe he needed directions from someone. Then he said: ‘I’d love you to come and stay at one of my beautiful places. Maybe we could have dinner…”
One imagines “dinner” would’ve been six courses of McDonald’s with an overpriced $1,000 glass of Diet Coke.
Politely declining the future president, Thompson realized that Trump’s call came after her divorce decree from actor and director Kenneth Branagh, whom she had been married to since 1989.
Opportunistic timing, am I right?
Thompson agreed:
“And I thought, I bet he’s got people looking for suitable people he could take out on his arm, you know, a nice divorcee. That’s what he was looking for, and he found the number in my trailer. I mean, that’s stalking!”
This isn’t the first time Thompson has disclosed that she almost had the opportunity to be the next Mrs. Trump.
She spilled the tea in 2018 during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:
- YouTubeThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert/YouTube
And the timing of the phone call is interesting because Trump was married to his second wife, Marla Maples, from 1993 to 1999. After his divorce, Trump met then-model Melania Knauss, who would later become the future First Lady Melania Trump after they married in 2005.
It would be remiss not to mention that the president has had a contentious history of rape and affair allegations that he’s still fighting in court to this day.
So yes, Emma, you dodged an orange bullet. The kind that tweets at 3 a.m. in all CAPS.
The internet agreed, quickly chiming in with disbelief, relief, and how this could’ve changed American history.
Thompson was at Locarno promoting her new film The Dead of Winter, co-starring her daughter Gaia Wise, who plays a younger version of Thompson’s character. The thriller follows a widowed fisherwoman in northern Minnesota who stumbles upon a kidnapping. Judy Greer, Laurel Marsden, and Lloyd Hutchinson round out the cast. The movie hits theaters Sept. 26.
In addition to the promo, Thompson received the Leopard Club Award for her decades-spanning career.
Ever the class act, she accepted in flawless Italian:
- YouTubeLocarno Film Festival/YouTube
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