How do you approach playing a character as polarizing as Donald Trump? This figure, one of the most divisive of the 21st century, has been a celebrity-adjacent public persona, a reality TV host, and one of America’s most contentious politicians. For Sebastian Stan, known for his fictional political intrigue as the MCU’s Winter Soldier, this was one of the major challenges in The Apprentice. Not the business-themed series Trump hosted in the US, but the title of Ali Abbasi’s new film, which dramatizes Trump’s early years.
As Stan tells Empire, deciphering the complex emotions surrounding Donald Trump—the anger, the adoration, the love-him-or-hate-him obsession—while synthesizing what needed to be conveyed in The Apprentice was an immense challenge. “Working with Ali was like riding a psychotic horse through a blazing stable,” the actor describes. The role required not only understanding Trump but also everything external to him. “We’re talking about someone everyone has an opinion about, an impression of, strong feelings for. I had to distance myself from that, yet I was attentive to how he has been portrayed,” Stan explains. “So I watched everything—impersonators, all the things. But I also focused on the collaboration and the shared vision with Ali.”
The result is a film that delves into the shaping of the Trump we know, guided by New York attorney Roy Cohn (played by Jeremy Strong), exploring the man behind the storm. “The film normalizes him, to some extent,” Stan notes. “There’s a tendency to speak about him in a selective, distant way, as if he’s separate from us humans on Earth. He’s either a god, blessed by everything, or Satan incarnate. The truth is, he’s human. The movie shows there’s more to relate to and understand than we’re willing to admit. To me, it’s a journey of watching a man turn to stone over time.”
Read Empire’s full story on The Apprentice—speaking with Sebastian Stan and Ali Abbasi about their provocative take on Donald Trump’s origin—in the 40 Years Of The Terminator issue, on sale Thursday 26 September. Order a copy online here. The Apprentice hits UK cinemas from 18 October.
