Woody Allen has said he was impressed by the acting abilities of Donald Trump when he directed the now-president in the 1998 film Celebrity.
Speaking on Bill Maher’s Club Random, Allen said Trump was “a pleasure to work with and a very good actor”.
He continued: “He was very polite, hit his mark, did everything correctly and had a real flair for show business. I could direct him now. If he would let me direct him now that he’s president, I think I could do wonders.”
In Allen’s ensemble film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Trump has a fleeting scene in which he’s interviewed about his forthcoming projects by a TV reporter.
In a rare – scripted – instance of irony and deprecation, Trump replies that he’s “working on buying St Patrick’s Cathedral. Maybe doing a little rip-down job and putting up a very, very tall and beautiful building.”
Allen went on to say that Trump had a “charismatic quality” in front of the camera, was “pleasant, very professional, very polite” and that he was “surprised he wanted to go into politics”.
He continued: “Politics is nothing but headaches and critical decisions and agony. This was a guy I used to see at the Knicks games, and he liked to play golf, and he liked to judge beauty contests and he liked to do things that were enjoyable and relaxing. Why anyone would want to suddenly have to deal with the issues of politics is beyond me.”
Allen declared that he had personally voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. “I disagree with many, almost all, not all, but almost all of [Trump’s] politics, of his policies.”
He concluded: “I would like to direct him now as president and let me make the decisions. But that’s not gonna happen.”
Allen, whose films are often homages to Russian literature, recently attracted criticism for his virtual attendance at a Moscow film festival honouring the director.
In a statement issued afterwards, Allen clarified that “when it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, I believe strongly that Vladimir Putin is totally in the wrong”.
Source link
-
-
-
-
-
