THE KAREEM OF THE CROP
Tbeen “a single” interview in which (photo) has not been asked if he’s imitating in “Beatriz at Dinner,” where he plays a racist real estate mogul. And he insists he’s not. “I’m certainly not,” he told us at a Gucci sponsored screening of the film on the Lower East Side. “Donald Trump is not the only billionaire real estate developer. There are thousands of them out there.” Numerous reviewers have made the connection between Lithgow’s Doug Strutt character, who asks Mexican actress character in the movie if she came to the country legally and tries to order a drink from her at a dinner party where she’s a guest. But according to Lithgow, the comparison between Strutt and Trump isn’t fair. “He’s very different from Doug Strutt,” he insisted, conceding that “The film does resonate with what’s on everybody’s mind.”
Lithgow said that he and the cast were careful not to make the StruttTrump parallel too heavy handed as that could distract audiences from the story they’re trying to tell.
“This is a genial man with an easy sense of humor and Donald Trump does not have an easy sense of humor,” he says. “(Strutt) is unfazed by anything, he’s not paranoid. Again that’s completely the opposite of Donald Trump. So yeah, people are always saying, ‘Are you playing Donald Trump?’ and the answer is no.”
Hayek, who’s had run-ins with both Lithgow’s character and The Donald, whom she says wanted to romance her, has no regrets about blowing her chance to become America’s First Lady.
“Oh no no!” Hayek insisted at the screening.
Last fall, Hayek told L.A.’s Radio Centro 93.9 that Trump had once hounded her for a date and was insulted when she shot him down like a half-baked budget proposal. Soon after, the National Enquirer ran a story in which one of their “sources” claimed Hayek wanted to date Trump, but The Donald reportedly thought she was too short. (r.) is letting off the hook for using the N-word on his HBO show over the weekend. The NBA great, writing for the Hollywood Reporter, argued “Intent is important” in finding something racist. “Was Maher insensitive? Absolutely. Inappropriate? Definitely. Smug in appropriating the word for cheap humor? Check. Yet, there was no malevolent intent.” Also on Wednesday, Maher’s ex-girlfriend a black model ambiguously said, “I’ve heard the word many times,” when asked if Maher ever dropped the N-bomb in her presence.