Hollywood actor Sebastian Stan has said the political and media climate in the United States is “not a laughing matter” as he reflected on portraying US President Donald Trump in the 2024 biopic The Apprentice during the Cannes Film Festival.
Stan, who is at Cannes promoting his new film Fjord, addressed the controversy surrounding The Apprentice during a press conference on Tuesday.
“It’s just not a laughing matter, to be honest. It isn’t. I think we’re in a really, really bad place. I really do,” Stan said after audience members laughed at a question about his portrayal of Trump.
“When you’re looking at what’s happening, right — if we’re talking about the consolidation of the media, censorship, threats, the supposed lawsuits that seemingly never end but don’t actually go anywhere. You know, the writing was on the wall. We encountered all that with the movie,” he added.
Directed by Ali Abbasi, The Apprentice chronicled Trump’s rise as a New York real estate businessman in the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on his relationship with attorney Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong.
Ahead of the film’s premiere at Cannes in 2024, Trump attempted to block the release by sending a cease-and-desist letter to the producers. At the time, Trump’s campaign described the film as “garbage” and “pure fiction”, while Trump himself called it “fake” and “classless”.
Stan said the team behind the film faced significant uncertainty before its Cannes debut.
“Three days before the festival, we were unsure if the movie was going to play at the festival. So maybe people are paying attention more to that film; I think it will stand the test of time for that. But we went through all of it, right before Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert and so on. So, I wish it wasn’t like that,” he said.
The actor added that he was “still purging” the experience of portraying Trump, nearly two years after filming the project.
Stan and Strong both received Oscar nominations for their performances in the film.
Meanwhile, Stan’s latest film Fjord premiered at Cannes on Monday and received a 10-minute standing ovation. Directed by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu, the drama stars Stan alongside Renate Reinsve.
