Prior to John Oliver’s bombshell Q&A with Dustin Hoffman at last night’s screening of Wag the Dog, Robert De Niro, who produced and starred in the film, imagined what a sequel to the 1997 political satire would look like. De Niro envisions that the the follow-up film would draw from the current White House. “Well if I did a sequel I would just document everything that’s going on today. You couldn’t make it up, and we all know that. It would be beyond our wildest expectations, if you will, or imagination. It’s beyond,†he said in an interview before the 20th anniversary screening to benefit the Tribeca Film Institute at the 92nd Street Y. “That’s what we would do, and that’s what will be done. Movies will be done later about this period in American history that is so deplorable and awful and fucked up — excuse my French.â€
When asked who he would want to star in the sequel, De Niro was hesitant to name anyone for certain. “You know, I love Alec Baldwin. He’s great in the Saturday Night Live thing, but in all seriousness, that’s another one that depends — it’s a different thing because Trump is so deplorable.†He said he wouldn’t want Donald Trump portrayed in a way that would normalize him. “You don’t want somebody — I don’t want to say to give sympathy but I’m sure he himself has sympathy within his existence. I know he’s not a total awful person that I know he is. But he has a family and there are probably people there, his daughter, his son, love him or are loyal or are obligated to whatever. But he is a — he’s a classic potentially dangerous fascist leader. Period. It’s that simple. I’m sure Hitler was loved by somebody in his family. And this Donald Trump is a motherfucker.â€