ADVERTISEMENT British actress and national treasure Emma Thompson was at the 78th edition of the Locarno International Film Festival this weekend to receive the Leopard Club Award prize at the Swiss festival.
During her talk on Saturday, the Oscar-winning Sense And Sensibility and Love Actually actress reflected on the time when Donald Trump asked her to go out for dinner and joked how she could have “changed the course of American history.”
The moment happened while she was filming the 1998 political comedy Primary Colors – which was loosely based on Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidental campaign.
Thompson shared that she received a call from Trump on the same day her divorce from her first husband, fellow actor Kenneth Branagh, was confirmed.
“It was Donald Trump,” Thompson told the audience. “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.’ I said: ‘Well, that’s very sweet. Thank you so much. I’ll get back to you.’”
At the time, Trump had just split from his second wife, Marla Maples.
Tompson went on to share: “I realised that on that very day my divorce had finally come through. 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!”
She added: “So yes, I could have gone on a date with Donald Trump. I could have changed the course of American history!”
This is not the first time that Thompson has shared the anecdote.
In 2017, she told 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!”
Check out footage of the interview above.
Not that the talk in Locarno was exclusively about this headline-grabbing moment – and its implications.
The talk covered Thompson’s career, and lingered on one of her most famous roles: Karen in Richard Curtis’ Christmas romcom Love Actually (2003).
Reflecting on the film’s popularity, she said: “I mean, it’s honestly a constant source of astonishment to me that that film lasted – not that I don’t like the film. I like it very much, but it’s weird.”
It is weird – and a source of much debate in the Euronews Culture office.
Two years ago, we celebrated the film’s 20th anniversary by debating whether the classic was a “charming Christmas-themed Canterbury Tales” or “infuriating turtleneck porn about a moron who doesn’t back up his novel”.
You can read our Pro-Con thoughts here.
The Locarno Film Festival kicked off on 6 August and lasts until 16 August 2025.
