Vanity Fair The actor is headed into the most exciting stretch of his career, between A Different Man and The Apprentice.
This article is also a podcast embedded below, you can read or listen (click more to read)
Category: The Apprentice
It started with the most famous voice on the planet, the one that just won’t shut up.
Sebastian Stan, in real life, sounds very little like Donald Trump, whom he’s playing in the new film “The Apprentice.” Sure, they share a tristate accent — Stan has lived in the city for years and attended Rutgers University before launching his career — but he speaks with none of Trump’s emphasis on his own greatness. Trump dwells, Stan skitters. Trump attempts to draw topics together over lengthy stem-winders (what he recently called “the weave”), while Stan has a certain unwillingness to be pinned down, a desire to keep moving. It takes some coaxing to bring Stan, a man with the upright bearing and square jaw of a matinee idol, to speak about his own process — how hard he worked to conjure a sense Trump, and how he sought to bring out new insights about America’s most scrutinized politician.
“I think he’s a lot smarter than people want to say about him,” Stan says, “because he repeats things consistently, and he’s given you a brand.” Stan would know: He watched videos of Trump on a loop while preparing for “The Apprentice.” In the film, out on Oct. 11, Stan plays Trump as he moves from insecure, aspiring real estate developer to still insecure but established member of the New York celebrity firmament.
I’ve added 8 new UHQ Stills of ‘The Apprentice’ in the gallery. Thank you to Sandra for her assistance on a few of these once again. Also, ‘The Apprentice’ kickstarter has reached past 300k, whats the reward for 400? Will we find out?
* NOTE: If you want to donate to the kickstarter click here: RELEASE THE APPRENTICE
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Production Stills
Vogue France – From Gossip Girl to Marvel Studios, to more independent productions: Sebastian Stan’s career has been a roller coaster ride. During his visit to the Deauville American Film Festival, Vogue put the actor, who at 42 years old won a Revelation Award.
On October 9, Sebastian Stan be will Donald Trump in The Apprentice . Some know him for his role as Carter Baizen in Gossip Girl . Others, for that of the Winter Soldier in Marvel productions. But recently, the American actor, of Romanian origin, has ventured into more independent fiction, which sheds a new light on his career. At the Deauville American Film Festival , he came to present A Different Man by Aaron Schimberg , in which he plays Edward, a young disabled actor decides who to change his appearance to, he believes at the time, improve his life. On the contrary, this transformation marks the beginning of his fall. An antagonistic role such as he has long played on our screens, and which he continues in The Apprentice , presented in May 2024 at the Cannes Film Festival , and directed by filmmaker Ali Abbasi . So many elements that made us want to talk with the 42-year-old actor during his visit to Normandy , where he was awarded the Revelation Prize. As proof of the new direction taken in his career, today considered by the proponents of European cinema, possibly, let’s confess, more snobbish than their American compatriots.
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I’ve added 8 new UHQ Stills of ‘The Apprentice’ in the gallery.
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Production Stills
Morning! The trailers for ‘The Apprentice’ are officially here one is domestic the other is international with different scenes, click below to view both. I’ve also added 120+ screencaptures for the domestic trailer and 132 screencaptures of the international trailer to the gallery as well as a new promotional still & artwork.
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Production Stills
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Promotional Artwork
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Trailer Screen Captures [1080]
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > International Trailer Screen Captures [1080]
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Promotional Artwork
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Trailer Screen Captures [1080]
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > International Trailer Screen Captures [1080]
I’ve added one new UHQ Still to the ‘A Different Man‘ production stills and two new UHQ Stills of ‘The Apprentice’ in the gallery.
Film Projects > A Different Man (2023) > Production Stills
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Production Stills
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Production Stills
Hollywood Reporter – Daniel Bekerman and Amy Baer talk about the legal threats from Trump that spooked distributors and why crowdfunding was right for their film: “We wanted to do whatever we could to make sure that the movie was seen.”
* NOTE: If you want to donate to the kickstarter click here: RELEASE THE APPRENTICE
Yesterday, the filmmakers behind Donald Trump movie The Apprentice launched a Kickstarter campaign to assist with the October theatrical release of the film with a goal of raising $100,000. A day later, it has already topped that goal, raising more than $139,000 for the campaign, dubbed “Release The Apprentice.”
A Kickstarter campaign is not the go-to move for a splashy, albeit independently financed, feature with award-winning stars like Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong, and a debut at the Cannes Film Festival. But The Apprentice has had a long and embattled journey to get to theaters.
Since the film’s festival debut, its potential release has been mired in uncertainty. Dan Snyder, the pro-Trump billionaire, is involved with Kinematics, the company that put up equity for the film against domestic rights. Snyder was reportedly was displeased with the film’s depiction of Trump and sought to block its release. After the film’s Cannes debut, Trump’s lawyers sent a cease and desist letter also in an attempt to block the film’s release.
The Apprentice, from director Ali Abbasi, explores Donald Trump’s (Stan) rise to power in 1980s America under the influence of the firebrand right-wing attorney Roy Cohn (Strong). Among the scenes that reportedly earned the ire of the former president and his backers are a sequence where he rapes his first wife Ivana and also scenes that show Trump getting liposuction.
Ahead of the film’s screening at the Telluride Film Festival, it was reported that Briarcliff Entertainment would release The Apprentice on Oct 11. And, in addition to yesterday’s Kickstarter, it was announced that Kinematics exited the project over “creative differences,” with fellow producer James Shani’s Rich Spirit buying out the company’s interest.
After a whirlwind couple of months, The Apprentice producers Daniel Bekerman and Amy Baer talked to The Hollywood Reporter about Trump’s threats, the Kickstarter campaign and their hopes for the film.
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I’ve added one new UHQ Still to the ‘A Different Man‘ production stills and two new UHQ Stills of ‘The Apprentice’ in the gallery.
Film Projects > A Different Man (2023) > Production Stills
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Production Stills
Film Projects > The Apprentice (2024) > Production Stills
* NOTE: If you want to donate to the kickstarter click here: RELEASE THE APPRENTICE
NEW YORK (AP) — Hard as it may be to believe, there aren’t a lot of Hollywood agents clamoring for their star clients to take the role of one of the polarizing political figures of the 21st century.
Sebastian Stan, though, was committed to “The Apprentice.” More than anything, he believed in its director, the Iranian Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi. And, even though it made him nervous — or maybe because it made it him nervous — he wanted to do it. He wanted to play Donald Trump.
“There wasn’t a lot of competition,” Stan says, chuckling.
“It was one of those things I thought: If this isn’t going to happen, it’s not going to happen because of me,” Stan says. “It’s not going to not happen because I’m scared.”
By a landslide, “The Apprentice” is the most controversial movie of the fall. It stars Stan as a young Trump playing apprentice to the attorney Roy Cohn ( Jeremy Strong ) while trying to make a name for himself in 1980s New York real estate. Already, “The Apprentice” has had one of the most tortured paths to movie theaters of any 2024 release.
After its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, all the major studios and top specialty labels passed on making an offer. One potential issue was a cease and desist letter from Trump’s legal team. Another was that one of the movie’s investors — Dan Snyder, the former owner of the Washington Commanders and a Trump supporter — wanted to exit the movie.
Only last week, Briarcliff Entertainment announced that it will open “The Apprentice” on Oct. 11, just weeks before Election Day. And it’s still fighting for more screens. On Tuesday, the filmmakers took the unusual step of launching a Kickstarter crowdsourcing campaign to raise money for its release.
“This project has been pretty crazy, from beginning to the end,” Abbasi says. “It’s still not completely there. It’s going to get more crazy, maybe.”
Trump’s reelection campaign has vigorously opposed the movie. After its Cannes debut, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung called the film “pure fiction.” On Friday, after its release date was confirmed, Cheung declared it “election interference by Hollywood elites.”
What role, if any, “The Apprentice” might play in the lead-up to Nov. 5 will be one of the most notable storylines at the movies this fall. While many Hollywood stars are vocal supporters of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, it’s far rarer that plainly political films squeak through today’s sequel- and superhero-dominated movie industry. That makes for a unique election-year test case: Will liberals want to see a film about Trump? Will conservatives turn out for a film Trump opposes?
Abbasi, whose previous film “Holy Spider” turned a questioning eye on Iranian society through the story of a serial killer targeting women, says he’s not trying to tell anyone how to vote.
“Do I want to show you some stuff about character? Yes, I would very much love that and I think we have some great stuff to show,” says Abbasi. “What you do with that knowledge is up to you. But that knowledge might come in handy if you want to go and vote.”
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To Abbasi, grappling with contemporary politics is his responsibility as a filmmaker. As ubiquitous as Trump is, Abbasi argues there have been paltry attempts to really understand the former president.
“With Donald and Ivana, they’ve never really been treated as human beings,” Abbasi says. “They’re either treated badly or extremely good — it’s like this mythological thing. The only way if you want to break that myth is to deconstruct it. I think a humanistic view is the best way you can deconstruct that myth.”
“For me, the best comp for him is Barry Lyndon,” Abbasi adds, referencing the Stanley Kubrick film of the same name. “When you think about Barry Lyndon, you don’t think about that guy as being a bad guy or a good guy. He has this ambivalence and this uncanny ability to navigate. He wants to be somebody. He doesn’t really know what or why. He just sort of wants to ascend.”
“The Apprentice” found a mixed reception from critics at Cannes, though Stan and Strong were widely praised. The movie notably includes a scene in which Trump, as played by Stan, rapes Ivana (played by Maria Bakalova). In Ivana Trump’s 1990 divorce deposition, she stated that Trump raped her. Trump denied the allegation and Ivana Trump later said she didn’t mean it literally, but rather that she had felt violated.
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But, Abbasi maintains, “The Apprentice” is not a hit job. He has insisted that Trump, himself, might like the movie. At the same time, some critics have questioned whether “The Apprentice” shows too much empathy to Trump and Cohn, who was Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel during the 1954 communist hearings.
“I don’t think any of us are above it. I don’t think any of us are born perfect people or we’re not morally compromised,” says Stan. “It’s really, really much muddier and trickier than that, life is. I think the only way we can learn is through empathy. I think we have to protect empathy and continue to nourish it. And I think one way of nourishing empathy is showing what its exact opposite can be.”