Donald Trump Almost Played The President In 'Sharknado 3' & No, This Isn't A Joke

The Sharknado franchise is known for being completely ridiculous, but crazily enough, it nearly foreshadowed one thing that actually did happen in the real world. No, you're still safe from a cyclone of Great Whites for now — the campy sci-fi series was going to cast Donald Trump as the president of the United States in one of its movies just a year before he actually became president in real life. The man behind the production of the Sharknado series revealed Donald Trump almost played the president in Sharknado 3.

David Latt, the co-founder of Sharknado's production company, The Asylum, told The Hollywood Reporter he and his team offered the role of president in Sharknado 3 to Trump back in 2015, and the current president actually jumped at the opportunity. Latt says Trump enthusiastically responded to his email almost immediately after he sent it.

The Donald said yes. He was thrilled to be asked.

Despite Trump's apparent eagerness to take the part, Sharknado 3 cast Shark Tank star and noted Trump nemesis Mark Cuban in the presidential role instead. Reportedly, Latt received word from Trump's team the business mogul was planning to announce his presidential candidacy shortly after the movie would be released, and the people around him thought the timing for the campy role would be strange.

But when Trump got news Mark Cuban was cast in the role, Latt claims he received an irate and threatening message from Trump's lawyer:

Then we immediately heard from Trump's lawyer. He basically said, 'How dare you? Donald wanted to do this. We're going to sue you! We're going to shut the entire show down!'

In the end, those legal threats boiled down to nothing, and Sharknado 3 wound up coming out almost exactly one month after Trump announced his candidacy for president of the United States in the summer of 2015.