Nick Offerman plays the POTUS in the dystopian action film Civil War, but although some liken his character to Donald Trump, the actor didn’t think about him during filming.
“Honestly, no,” Offerman told Deadline during the film’s premiere. “When you see the movie, it’s so unattached to anything in modern politics, not only in our country but any country. It’s like doing a play where I’m playing a baseball player, and people say, ‘Did you ever think of your favorite team, the Cubs?’ And I say, ‘No, it’s a brilliant piece of fiction.’”
He continued, “From the get-go, it clearly wasn’t based on anything in reality, and so, that’s a distraction, and my job is to immediately say, ‘Who is this guy? And how can I best serve Alex [Garland’s] vision.’”
With the presidential election heating up this year, Offerman revealed that some of his friends “have mistakenly suggested” that he and his wife, Megan Mullally, should make a run for office. Offerman noted that the Will & Grace alum “is an incredible interior designer” and asked if she would be up to “give the White House a facelift.”
The Emmy winner for his role in The Last of Us revealed that Mullally said, “Ultimately, I don’t think it would be worth it. I think we’re happy in the hills of Los Angeles.”
“I’ve considered it, but I just don’t think they have a great grill and meat smoking setup in that entire neighborhood. So, unfortunately, I think we’ll just stick to entertaining,” he added.
Offerman also revealed that even though the movie is about a Civil War, “there are really not any politics” in the film.
Civil War was written and directed by Alex Garland. The film also stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno, Jefferson White, Juani Feliz, Nelson Lee, Edmund Donovan, Karl Glusman, Jin Ha, Jojo T. Gibbs, Jesse Plemons and Jess Matney.
Natalie Sitek contributed to this report.