Alec Baldwin’s cover version of a Queen song on the “Saturday Night Live” season finale last month may have been his swan song in the role of President Donald Trump.
The actor tells USA Today that when it comes to impersonating the president, “I’m so done with that,” and he “can’t imagine” donning the wig and the oversized necktie next season.
“They should find somebody who wants to do it,” Baldwin said.
The former “30 Rock” star and frequent “SNL” host began playing Trump in October 2016, just before the presidential election. He won an Emmy for his “SNL” work the next year.
“I had a lot of fun with [the cast],” Baldwin said, adding that when he first parodied Trump’s political antics, “that was new, it was fresh and the ratings were good. But I feel like I’m done with that now. I’m so done with that.”
Changes in his workload also weigh into his decision. “My wife and I had a son a year ago, and since he was born, I’ve worked minimally because I wanted to be there for my wife and kids,” he said. “But the party’s over this fall and I’ll be traveling. ‘SNL’ just crushes my weekends, and now weekends are going to become much more precious to me because that’s time with my kids.”
His take on Trump had its detractors, the most notable being the man himself. Over the years, the president jumped in with several Sunday morning tweets bashing the “terrible” impression and declaring it “stinks.”
In one, he opined that the Trump role should go back to “a far greater talent”: Darrell Hammond, the former “SNL” actor (and current announcer) who played him during the “Apprentice” era. In a rare moment of agreement, Baldwin acknowledged that Hammond “is a far better impressionist than I’ll ever be.”
Baldwin’s new film, “Framing John DeLorean,” arrives on demand on Friday. He plays the title character in re-enactments during the documentary, which traces the auto mogul’s collapse after he was arrested (and later cleared) of cocaine trafficking charges.
The role is a long time coming: Baldwin recounted how he received a call from DeLorean himself some two decades ago, asking the actor to star in a biopic.
”It was a very short conversation, and it never went anywhere. I don’t know why these projects died,” Baldwin says. “But whenever a living historic figure anoints you to do a project like that, that’s a cool thing. I’m not really that intoxicated by any of the work I do, but when he called, I thought, ‘That’s pretty cool.’ ”
