Chris Pizzello/Invision/APRobert Redford has a really good reason why you should see his new family-friendly movie Pete's Dragon.
"It's the kind of film I think we can use more of right now with the world so dark around us and so much violence and so much racism and all these negative things," Redford tells me. "[It's] not a bad idea to have a movie that has hope and imagination and magic."
But a magic dragon who raises a boy he finds in the forest after his parents are killed in a car crash could only do so much. "What is going to happen with America?" Redford says. "That is a good question that I don't have an immediate answer to, only that I am worried. I think we've lost civility. I think we've lost a certain degree of passion. I think passion unfortunately is directed into negative areas. I think it would be nice if we could switch back to positive areas. There's a lot to be positive about. We're very lucky to be in this country considering where the world is."
The Oscar winner raised eyebrows last year when he said during an interview, "I'm glad [Trump is] in there because him being the way he is, and saying what he says the way he says it, I think shakes things up, and I think that's very needed. Because on the other side, it's so bland, it's so boring, it's so empty."
After Trump tweeted how happy he was with Redford's remarks, the actor's rep clarified with The Hollywood Reporter that he was talking about Trump as a character and not as a politician. "He enjoys him," Redford's rep told the industry magazine, "but not for president."
When I ask Redford if he ever thought Trump would get as far as he has, he smiles, "If he was going to be the dragon? I'll leave it at that. I think he'd be great for a sequel. They wouldn't have to worry about animation."
Pete's Dragon is in theaters on Aug. 12.