Vogue

You may have heard something about The Apprentice—the Donald Trump biopic that premiered at Cannes to great fanfare, and not a little controversy. Was director Ali Abbasi’s 1970s set film, starring Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as his mentor, the New York attorney and ruthless power broker Roy Cohn, too sympathetic to the striving, scheming characters at its center? (Maybe not: After Cannes, Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue.) Certainly when you watch The Apprentice, which opens in theaters Friday, it’s impossible not to be astonished, and enthralled, by the performances of Stan and Strong, who turn real-life hyper-polarizing figures into fascinating antiheroes.

But make no mistake: The Apprentice is a warning. This is a movie, written by the journalist Gabriel Sherman, that will leave you chilled. Here is the story of Trump’s rise, the lessons he learned from Cohn, and a portrayal of power at all costs—what it drives a person to and how it corrupts.

Vogue invited Stan and Strong onto The Run-Through with Vogue to talk about their performances, how the film came together, and why Americans should see it before the November 5 election. Below, read an excerpt of the conversation Vogue.com editor Chloe Malle and I conducted with the two actors in the podcast studio.
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EW – “I hope he sees it. That would alone be worth making it,” Jeremy Strong tells EW.

The cast and filmmakers behind The Apprentice agree on a lot about its controversial subject matter — except for the one question on everyone’s minds now that it’s finally hitting theaters: Will Donald Trump see the movie?

There are valid arguments and evidence for both possible answers. On the one hand, the former president and current Republican nominee has already threatened to sue the filmmakers over his portrayal, with his spokesperson calling it “a concoction of lies that repeatedly defames” Trump. And it’s true, it’s far from a glowing portrait. Over the course of the movie (opening Oct. 11), the dealmaker (played by Sebastian Stan) is shown taking diet pills, getting plastic surgery, and, most disturbing of all, raping his former wife, Ivana, as she alleged happened in a 1990 divorce deposition. (She later denied her initial testimony, saying she felt “violated” but did not mean to be alleging rape “in a literal criminal sense.”)

But it’s not all bad, either. The filmmakers have stressed that they aim to humanize Trump with their movie, which follows him in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s as he grows from a middling real estate heir into a man synonymous with wealth and power. Plus, the 45th president’s love for movies is well-documented. As referenced in the movie, it was his infatuation with West Side Story that led him to collect switchblades as a teen. When he found his son’s stash, Fred Trump Sr. shipped off young Donald to a harsh military school known for corporal punishment. After graduating, he continued toying with the idea of following his dream to become an actor before settling on business school. As president, he screened movies at the White House on multiple occasions, including several showings of his favorite, Sunset Boulevard.

The Apprentice filmmakers on ‘shocking’ struggle to find a buyer: ‘It’s cowardice in the face of Donald Trump’

“I hope he sees the movie, but I actually don’t think he would,” says Jeremy Strong, who plays Trump’s mentor, Roy Cohn. “I think there’s a lot in it that he would recognize. And I think there’s nothing really in this movie that he hasn’t acknowledged and even bragged about at some point or another. I hope he sees it. That would alone be worth making it.”

“I’m sure he’s going to watch it at some point,” counters the film’s director, Ali Abbasi. “I feel like we’ve been fair, and I almost feel like there are a lot of things to like.”

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Gabriel Sherman, who wrote the film after covering Trump for years as a reporter, isn’t sure if Trump will see the movie, but he is sure that he wants him to. “Of course, I want everyone to see the movie from Donald Trump on down,” he says. “He doesn’t strike me as the most self-reflective person, but I think it would be fascinating to see him experience this part of his life and either agree with it or disagree. Whatever response he had, I think it would be really interesting.”

Asked to imagine how Trump might feel about it, Sherman notes he’d be “completely guessing,” but offers, “I think, on a basic level, he likes attention. So even if he says he hates the movie, I think there’s a part of him that likes that we’re talking about him as we speak. So I’m waiting for him to say on the campaign trail, ‘They got a Marvel superhero to play me. That’s the only person who could play me is a Marvel actor.’”

Speaking of the Marvel actor, Stan also struggles to envision whether Trump will see it and, if he did, what he’d make of it. “I have no idea. It’s very hard for me to know how he reacts next to anything, so I have no idea, and I can’t speak for him.”

He adds, “It seems like he’s got a lot going on, so I’m not sure he’ll have time, but if he wants to see it, I’m sure he knows who to call.”

Entertainment Weekly The Apprentice filmmakers on ‘shocking’ struggle to find a buyer: ‘It’s cowardice in the face of Donald Trump’

For much of the six years it took to make The Apprentice, the filmmakers and actors involved weren’t sure it would ever see the light of day.

But when it finally premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, earning an 11-minute standing ovation and positive reviews, director Ali Abbasi felt like his final hurdle — finding a distributor — would soon be behind him. And yet, the major Hollywood studios and streamers weren’t calling.

“It was pretty shocking for me after the reception we got in Cannes,” he admits. “I understand it from the business perspective of not wanting to have trouble, but we’re not in the business of ice creams. We’re not selling shoes. So yeah, it was shocking.”

He knew it wouldn’t be easy. After all, it’s a movie about the makings of Donald Trump, who many consider to be the most controversial, divisive, and litigious man in America. The former president has already threatened to sue the filmmakers, as has his friend, billionaire Dan Snyder, who helped finance the film, reportedly under the false impression that it depicted Trump in a purely positive light.

While the filmmakers believe the well-researched film to be a fair and balanced portrait, The Apprentice is nevertheless full of shocking scenes. Throughout its two-hour runtime, we see the former president taking diet pills, receiving liposuction and having scalp-reduction surgery, and, most incendiary of all, raping his ex-wife Ivana, as she alleged happened in a 1990 divorce deposition, according to one unconfirmed account. (She later denied her initial testimony, saying she felt “violated” but did not mean to be alleging rape “in a literal criminal sense.”)

“Listen, Trump threatens to sue the mailman, so I’m not surprised,” says journalist Gabriel Sherman, who wrote the script. In fact, Sherman says he finds the legal threats “sort of perversely satisfying.” That’s because the film presents Trump as we know him today to be largely a product of his relationship with his mentor, Roy Cohn, who taught the real estate scion three lessons that he has continued to live by: Always attack, deny everything, and never admit defeat.

“He’s basically just doing what Roy Cohn told him to do — he’s attacking,” Sherman explains. “I know how rigorously researched and solid the movie is, so I’m not worried from a legal perspective.”

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Entertainment Weekly – “I know that might not be a popular thing to say,” the actor admits to EW for our cover story on the movie.

While The Apprentice attempts to find the humanity in Donald Trump, its star, Sebastian Stan, also believes the film shines a light on the Donald Trump in humanity.

“I think that there’s a Trump in all of us to some extent,” the actor tells Entertainment Weekly for our latest cover story. “I know that might not be a popular thing to say, or people maybe don’t want to admit it.”

And if you feel yourself having a strong reaction to that statement, Stan thinks that may be a sign that “there’s some truth” to what he’s saying.

But first, let him explain.

The Marvel actor stars in the film as the former president before he becomes the famous business mogul and politician he’s known as today. The Apprentice charts Trump’s rise to power through the late ’70s and ’80s as he grew from a wannabe power player to a man synonymous with wealth and success — all thanks to the tutelage of his mentor, the infamous Roy Cohn (played by Jeremy Strong).

By peeling back the layers of both men’s personalities, Stan, Strong, and filmmakers, including visionary director Ali Abbasi and journalist screenwriter Gabriel Sherman, want audiences to come away not only with a better understanding of Trump but also of themselves.

“It’s important for us to explore perhaps the darker elements that live within all of us so that by bringing them into the light, we can understand how to have a better relationship with them rather than suppressing and avoiding and pretending that they’re not there,” Stan explains. “I think that’s where the value is because I don’t think anyone is on a moral high ground.”

And the actor is willing to take his own advice. If there was one Trumpian quality he saw most in himself, it was the politician’s innate need to win at all costs. It’s an urge Stan has had since he immigrated to the United States from Romania at age 12.

“I understood that drive to rise, to overcome at whatever cost, and to win. I understood that simply from my own very, very small, humble beginnings with the American dream,” he says. “We love a winner in this country. It’s a fact that, to me, felt relatable in many ways.”

Still, some critics have taken issue with how the film attempts to empathize with two men whom many don’t believe deserve it. While Abbasi notes that “there is a range between having empathy for someone and having sympathy with someone,” Stan sees value in “normalizing people that we feel strongly about.”

“People feel very strongly about him in two different extremes,” he says. “They think he’s either God’s son or he’s Lucifer incarnate, and I think we need to bring him back down to earth in the hope of understanding.”

More than anything, the actor hopes the film “leads people towards a reconnection with their own humanity,” adding, “We have to have a better, healthier relationship with the beast in all of us.”

Deadline

Sebastian Stan portrays Donald Trump in the Ali Abbasi-directed film The Apprentice.

In a new interview, the Captain America: The Winter Soldier star talked about humanizing the twice-impeached former president of the United States.

“I think that there’s a Trump in all of us to some extent,” Stan told EW. “I know that might not be a popular thing to say, or people maybe don’t want to admit it.”

The Apprentice, set to be released in U.S. theaters on October 11, follows Trump’s rise to power before becoming a business mogul and politician.

“It’s important for us to explore perhaps the darker elements that live within all of us so that by bringing them into the light, we can understand how to have a better relationship with them rather than suppressing and avoiding and pretending that they’re not there,” Stan said. “I think that’s where the value is because I don’t think anyone is on a moral high ground.”

Stan related to the character he was portraying in the film saying he “understood that drive to rise, to overcome at whatever cost, and to win. I understood that simply from my own very, very small, humble beginnings with the American dream. We love a winner in this country. It’s a fact that, to me, felt relatable in many ways.”

Trump has become a very polarizing figure in politics with his divisive rhetoric, and Stan knows that “people feel very strongly about him in two different extremes.”

“They think he’s either God’s son or he’s Lucifer incarnate, and I think we need to bring him back down to earth in the hope of understanding,” adding he hoped the film led “people towards a reconnection with their own humanity.”