During his California fundraising tour, President Obama held a secret meeting in his hotel with the filmmaker Stephen Spielberg — whose latest film Jurassic World is currently on the top of the box office after breaking records for the biggest domestic opening of all time. Spielberg was the Executive Producer of the film.
According to Deadline Hollywood, Spielberg was spotted leaving the Beverly Hills hotel where Obama was staying.
Spielberg famously offered advice to Obama’s re-election campaign manager Jim Messina as they prepared to run against Mitt Romney.
“Stephen gave me a great piece of advise,” Messina said in 2012. “He said ‘Jim you just kind of have to blow up the ’08 campaign.’ He said, ‘You’re only the 1965 Rolling Stones once, and the second time you charge too much for your tickets.’”
Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg was also spotted leaving the hotel. He’s a frequent and lavish donor to Obama’s campaign and Democratic causes. Katzenberg has struggled recently, as shares of DreamWorks Animation dropped 37 percent in 2014 and he laid off 350 employees.
Obama is in California this weekend for a series of fundraisers with Hollywood stars and producers. According to Variety, Obama also had a roundtable meeting with 30 Hollywood stars at the home of Chuck Lorre, the executive producer of “Two and a Half Men.”
Kiefer Sutherland, Matthew Perry and Conan O’Brien were among those attending.
Obama also attended a larger fundraiser at the home of Tyler Perry.
The president is expected to attend two other fundraisers later tonight before relaxing for a rumored weekend of golf in the Golden State.