Alec Baldwin originally said ‘no’ to being ‘Saturday Night Live’ Donald Trump
The most popular impression of this election season, at least over the past few months, has been seeing Alec Baldwin play the part of Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live.” While the politician himself may not be much of a fan of it — he even called at one point for the show to “retire” — the majority of the viewership seems to enjoy it. This is reflected further in the ratings, which are the best for the show on NBC since the previous election cycle.
What may surprise some people out there, first and foremost, is that Baldwin doesn’t hate the man he is impersonating as much as you’d think. Speaking in a new interview with WNYC (which you can listen to further below), the actor described both his feelings towards the businessman-turned-politician and how he got into a place where he could impersonate him:
“I don’t hate Trump, but he’s not somebody I admire … You just watch him and try to see him, like a caricaturist who draws. This is an exaggeration — I almost sprained my jaw pushing my lower jaw forward to talk the way [that] he does.”
Baldwin also made it clear that he at first turned down the chance to play the part when Lorne Michaels went to him about it at the suggestion of his former “30 Rock” co-star Tina Fey. Why? He was not sure he would be able to pull it off, especially after people like Taran Killam and Darrell Hammond already had capable impressions. He eventually gave it a shot, and he attributes his success to both luck and the “aggressive” writing that allows him to make his impersonation into somewhat of a field day.
We imagine that there will probably be a few opportunities for us to see Baldwin’s Trump on the show moving forward even if he loses today. After all, just remember for a minute here that “SNL” will want to postmortem his campaign, and Baldwin’s star power offers up more opportunities for ratings. If Trump wins, we imagine Baldwin could keep the role for another few weeks before they start to potentially look at a more permanent solution. Alec isn’t a cast member on the show, and has no real incentive to join full-time at this point in his career.
Before leaving, we suggest that you take a look at the video here! It’ll give you some behind-the-scenes insight into the hair and makeup process for creating these now-famous impersonations. (Photo: NBC.)