Sebastian Stan has been on the road, promoting Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice for weeks/months. Stan plays a young Donald Trump, and Jeremy Strong plays Roy Cohn, who mentored and guided Trump’s rise to… power or something. The actual Trump campaign has tried to get this film shut down from the start, but it’s premiered at several film festivals and it’s already out in some movie theaters. Meanwhile, people always sort of forget that Sebastian Stan is an immigrant – he is Romanian, born in Romania, and he became a naturalized American citizen when he was 20 years old. I’ve wondered if and when Stan would actually use the promotional platform to direct some criticism at the real Donald Trump. Well, he finally did it.
Sebastian Stan is suggesting moviegoers “dig deeper” when it comes to Donald Trump. The 42-year-old actor, who plays Trump in his new film The Apprentice, was recently asked by The Hollywood Reporter whether he thought his portrayal of the Republican presidential nominee might sway voters ahead of the November elections.
“I don’t know,” Stan told the outlet. “But what I do hope is that people, regardless of their opinion, are curious enough to try to dig deeper. Because I think we’re living in a world where it’s so easy to be handed an opinion everywhere you turn. And I know a lot of people love social media, and that’s where they go for information and for things. You’re being told what to think. You’re being told what to do.”
The actor went on to say that he hoped people would make their own judgment calls after doing their own research into Trump and the kind of man that he is — something which he hoped his new movie helped encourage.
“If you have any inkling of interest, go and really ask yourself: ‘Who is this man? Do you really know? Do you really trust this person to lead a country?’ He’s been trying to censor this movie, and at the same time, he claims that he acknowledges free speech … I can’t think of anything more hypocritical,” he added. “So at the end of the day, it’s about him as a character. Forget the politics and just go in there and use your instinct and ask yourself: Do you trust this man? That’s what the movie is about.”
Stan was referring to Trump’s campaign issuing a statement after the film’s premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in May, saying that they planned to file a lawsuit “to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers.” The film notably includes several controversial moments, including a scene in which Stan’s Trump character is shown raping then-wife Ivana.
Yeah, I’ve thought all along that there’s no real market for this film. MAGA cultists don’t want to acknowledge their orange god’s sleazy backstory, and liberals don’t want to see a film humanize Trump in any way. I bring this up because it feels like Stan is under orders – maybe? – to try to sell this movie to a large swath of people, MAGAts and Democrats, and I just don’t think anyone’s buying it. Like, of all of the sh-tty things Trump has done and said just this year, “trying to censor a movie about his early years” barely makes the top 50.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
I’d watch the trailer, that might be about it.
I think the Roy Cohn part of it is pretty interesting: he was an important proponent of McCarthyism, but he was also a gay man (and was used as a character in the play Angels in America). He apparently mentored Trump, and taught him how to lie to the public, but as Cohn was dying of AIDS, Trump would no longer take his phone calls.
I don’t want to know any more about him. I would never watch this. Gross
The Apprentice is a truly outstanding film. It doesn’t “humanize” Trump. It is an examination of his descent into pure evil. Roy Cohn was pure evil, so by taking Trump on as an apprentice, Cohn showed him the way. It is brilliantly directed and even more spectacularly acted. Jeremy Strong deserves all the awards and Sebastian Stan is not far behind. Maria Bakalova (who played Borat’s daughter) is also terrific as Ivana Trump. It is an art film of the highest caliber.
Thank you.
Omg any movie, about anyone- is not necessarily about “humanizing” anything.
That being said- I like Sebastian Stan and will totally watch this when it comes on Hulu or something lol
I saw it. I dont think it humanizes him in a way you are thinking. the actors are all good and it does show him as a sleezeball.
It does look interesting and when he is no longer a threat to society I may watch it but I just can’t in the meantime.