Ben Affleck Describes Meeting Donald Trump at Milan Fashion Week

Left Photo by GARRETT QUINN; Right Photo by JORDAN STRAUSS / INVISION / AP

Don’t expect to see Ben Affleck at any of Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day festivities this month.

In a new wide-ranging interview with The Guardian, the Live by Night star and ardent Democrat opened up about the time he met Trump at an event during Milan Fashion Week. As expected, Affleck wasn’t really impressed by the businessman turned president-elect.

“I met him once at a Fashion Week event in Milan,” Affleck said. “You knew you were at a cheesy party if Donald Trump was there. He would kind of trawl around them.”

The actor and director went on to talk about a conversation he had with Marty Brest about the real estate mogul. The filmmaker revealed to Affleck that he had to create a cameo in one of his movies just for Trump in order to use his building as a shooting location.

“He was famous for only granting permission for films to shoot on his real estate locations if they put him in as a cameo,” Affleck said. “The director Marty Brest told me he’d had to create a whole hand-shaking scene in Scent of a Woman where Trump comes out of the door and goes, ‘Hey! Donald Trump, nice to meet you,’ as he bumps into Al Pacino. The ego was there a long time ago.”

As for Affleck’s political ambitions, he seemed to walk back his comments on liking the idea of running for office, which he stated during a recent discussion with the New York Times. Affleck told The Guardian that he “really wouldn’t want to” enter the world of politics due to the nature of fundraising for campaigns.

“It’s not because I think being a public servant wouldn’t be satisfying, but it’s become a pure money-raising exercise from beginning to end,” Affleck said. “It’s small talk with people who you want to squeeze money out of. It’s sleazy. You have to have a certain tolerance to that kind of schmooze that I don’t have.”