Los Angeles [US], November 30 (ANI): Actor Josh Brolin has opened up about his past friendship with US President Donald Trump, saying he remembers him as a very different person prior to his White House years.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 'Dune' star, while speaking to a British newspaper, discussed the ongoing speculation surrounding his latest role as Monsignor Wicks in 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery' and clarified that the character was not based on Trump.

'I could make something up and say it was rooted in a kind of Trumpian greed. Wicks garners a sense of power, and then there are no boundaries,' he said.

The Oscar nominee soon shifted the conversation to his own relationship with Trump. Brolin revealed that he once considered Trump a friend and described the president as someone he first met after the actor appeared in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, a film in which Trump was slated for a cameo. He also went on to address speculation of the president running for a third term, which he predicted is 'just not going to happen.'

'I'm not scared of Trump, because even though he says he's staying forever, it's just not going to happen. And if it does, then I'll deal with that moment,' Brolin said. 'But having been a friend of Trump before he was president, I know a different guy.'

The actor went on to describe Trump as exceptionally skilled in public persuasion, saying, 'There is no greater genius than him in marketing; he takes the weakness of the general population and fills it.'

'And that's why I think a lot of people feel that they have a mascot in him,' he added. 'I think it's much less about Trump than it is about the general population and their need for validation.'(ANI)