Biden preps for State of the Union by speaking to actors who have played the president

Ahead of his State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden spoke to a star-studded line-up of actors who have played the US president in various films and TV shows.

Mr Biden will deliver his final State of the Union speech before the 2024 election on Thursday night, with the speech set to begin at 9pm ET in the chamber of the House of Representatives.

Hours before the speech, Mr Biden posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, showing him speaking to actors including Morgan Freeman and Michael Douglas.

“I’ve never spoken to so many presidents all at one time. Some of you might know what a big speech like I have to do is coming up – the State of the Union. Any advice you have for me in delivering my speech?” Mr Biden asked the actors.

Freeman, who played President Tom Beck in Deep Impact, told Mr Biden: “In my capacity as President, all I had to deal with was a meteor”.

“One of the things that I came out of that with my speech to people – hope, hope is the strongest voice we have in this country,” Freeman added. “It’s the most useful and the most effective. My advice is just keep telling us how you're working for us, and building hope.”

Tony Goldwyn, who played President Fitzgerald Grant III on the TV show Scandal, told Mr Biden: “Looking back on my own presidency, I behaved very badly in a lot of situations”.

“In preparation for your speech, it’s just one piece of advice that meant a lot to me when I was president… tell them that you exist for them. Tell them that they make you a better man. And yeah, that's pretty much that's pretty much it. Oh, and also, when I used to give big speeches, I would always wind down with popcorn and red wine… Do that with ice cream, I highly encourage it,” he added.

“I know from