Sebastian Stan was almost unrecognizable in the first trailer for his upcoming film, The Apprentice, as he played a young Donald Trump.
In the first look, the 42-year-old Romanian-American actor can be seen learning from his mentor, Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), who takes him under his wing and gives him advice.
“The first rule is attack, attack, attack,” Strong tells him. “The second rule is admit nothing, deny everything… The third rule is: no matter what happens, claim victory and never admit defeat. You have to be willing to do anything to anyone to win.”
Later in the trailer, Maria Bakalova, who plays Trump’s late ex-wife Ivana, tells him: “Your face looks like an orange.”
According to the synopsis, obtained by People, the film follows a “young Donald Trump (Stan), eager to make a name for himself as the hungry second son of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, who falls under the spell of Roy Cohn (Strong), the ruthless lawyer who would help create the Donald Trump we know today.”
Sebastian Stan was almost unrecognizable in the first trailer for his upcoming film, The Apprentice, as he played a young Donald Trump.
The description continues: “Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé: someone with absolute ambition, hunger for success and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.”
The Apprentice premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
The film follows Trump in the 1970s and 1980s as he attempts to establish his real estate empire by leveraging the holdings of his father, Fred Trump.
The Apprentice is directed by Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi, who shot the critically acclaimed Persian-language crime thriller Holy Spider (2022).
Oscar-nominated actress Maria Bakalova will play Trump’s late ex-wife, Ivana Trump.
Variety initially reported that the film’s title would be The Student, adding that a synopsis for the upcoming film described it as “an exploration of power and ambition in a world of corruption and deceit.”
“It’s a mentor-protégé story that chronicles the origins of an American dynasty. Packed with larger-than-life characters, it reveals the moral and human cost of a culture defined by winners and losers.”
The film’s screenplay was written by Gabriel Sherman, author of the 2014 book The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News – and Divided a Country.
In the first look, the 42-year-old Romanian-American actor can be seen learning from his mentor, Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), who takes him under his wing and gives him advice.
“The first rule is attack, attack, attack,” Strong tells him. “The second rule is admit nothing, deny everything… The third rule is: no matter what happens, claim victory and never admit defeat. You have to be willing to do anything to anyone to win.”
Later in the trailer, Maria Bakalova, who plays Trump’s late ex-wife Ivana, tells him: ‘Your face looks like an orange.’
The book was later adapted into the 2019 Showtime miniseries The Loudest Voice.
Sebastian is on the rise professionally, having earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations after playing the role of Tommy Lee in Hulu’s Pam & Tommy, coming to Hulu in 2022.
Last year, Stan was in several films, including Dumb Money, Sharper and Ghosted.
Stan, who has also appeared in several MCU films playing Bucky “Winter Soldier” Barnes, is the latest in a series of performers to portray Trump.
Stan, who has also been seen in multiple MCU films playing Bucky ‘Winter Soldier’ Barnes, is the latest in a series of performers to have portrayed Trump; seen in 2022
Few of them have been for dramatic productions, with the most recent being Irish actor Brendan Gleeson in the 2020 Showtime miniseries The Comey Rule.
Trump has been parodied for decades on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, with actors including Alec Baldwin, Darrell Hammond, Jason Sudeikis, Taran Killam and the late Phil Hartman playing the role at different times.
