Michael Moore, the documentary maker who released a damning film about the president-elect, Donald Trump, a month ago, has said he believes the Democratic party’s future success rests on them embracing populism.

Moore, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union show, said the leadership vacuum that will result from the departures of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would best be filled by a well-liked celebrity.

“Democrats would be better off if they ran Oprah [Winfrey] or Tom Hanks,” said Moore. “Why don’t we run beloved people? We have so many of them. The Republicans do this – they run [Ronald] Reagan and the Terminator [Arnold Schwarzenegger] and other people.”

Moore continued: “Why don’t we run somebody that the American people love and are really drawn to, and that are smart and have good politics and all that?”

Neither Hanks nor Winfrey has expressed an intention to enter politics, although the latter did express hope over the weekend that Trump had been humbled by his encounter with Obama at the White House.

Celebrities who have registered an interest in running for political office include Will Smith, Angelina Jolie, Roseanne Barr and Dwayne Johnson.