Sebastian Stan on The Apprentice Normalizing Donald Trump: ‘He’s a Human Being’

Sebastian Stan is speaking up about what it’s like portraying Donald Trump in the Ali Abbasi-directed The Apprentice.

The biographical drama written by Gabriel Sherman centers on Trump’s early years as New York’s real estate businessman and his relationship with prosecutor Roy Cohn. Stan plays Trump in the movie, with Succession star Jeremy Strong playing Cohn. 

What did Sebastian Stan say about playing Donald Trump in The Apprentice?

Throughout his career, Stan has established himself as an actor who can take on challenging roles. He is known for his starring roles in I, Tonya, Destroyer, Fresh, The Last Full Measure, A Different Man, and in various Marvel Cinematic Universe films as The Winter Soldier. But playing the controversial political figure in The Apprentice “was like riding a psychotic horse through a blazing stable,” according to the actor. 

“We’re talking about somebody that everyone has an opinion about, that everyone has an impression of, that everyone has strong feelings for. I had to distance myself from that, but also I was paying attention to how he has been portrayed. So I watched everything. I watched stuff that impersonators did. All the things. But I also just had to go towards the collaboration and the vision that I was sharing with Ali,” Stan told Empire. 

According to him, the film — which premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival earlier this year — normalizes Trump “to some degree.” 

“There’s a preference to speak about him in a very selective, sort of distanced way. Like he’s this separate entity from the rest of us humans here on Earth. He’s either God, in the skies, blessed by everything, or he’s like Satan incarnate into the depths of the Earth. And the truth is, he is a human being. The movie shows there is much more here to relate and understand than I think we’re willing to admit. And to me, there’s a journey of watching a man turn to stone over a process of time,” he added. 

The film also stars Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, Martin Donovan as Fred Trump, Ben Sullivan as Russell Eldridge, Charlie Carrick as Fred Trump Jr., Mark Rendall as Daniel Sullivan, and Joe Pingue as Anthony Salerno.

The Apprentice is slated to hit theaters on October 11, 2024.