Love Actually star Emma Thompson claims that she could have changed the course of American history had she accepted a date with President Donald Trump.
Thompson recounted to a shocked audience at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland on Friday that she was on the set of the 1998 political satire film Primary Colors when she received a call in her trailer.
“It was Donald Trump. I thought it was a joke,” Thompson told the audience, Variety reported. She continued, “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 turned him down, but for the future POTUS to call on the day of her divorce from fellow British actor Kenneth Branagh was striking.
“I realized that on that very day my divorce has finally come through. I bet he has people looking all over for suitable people he could take out, for all these nice divorcées—I mean, he found the number of my trailer! That’s stalking!” Thompson said. “So yes, I could have gone on a date with Donald Trump. I could have changed the course of American history!”
Three years later, in 1998, Trump famously met future First Lady Melania at the Kit Kat Klub in New York City, according to her memoir. And the rest is history.
In Primary Colors, Thompson plays the first lady of Arkansas in a comedic take on former President Bill Clinton’s presidential run, based on a novel of the same name by Joe Klein.
Thompson remembered, “If you remember the Monica Lewinsky scandal, poor Monica, that happened when we were making Primary Colors. We sat down, thinking: ‘What are we going to do? We are making a film about something that’s happening at the same time.’”
She added: “It seems like such a long time ago. Oh, if only we could have a nice sex scandal and none of this, please.”
During a 2017 episode of The Graham Norton Show, Thompson recounted getting the call from Trump in greater detail.
“I just didn’t know what to say. I was absolutely astounded,” she said.
