Playing Donald Trump: Sebastian Stan on Bringing the President to Life on Screen

A Challenging Role

Playing a character like Donald Trump, one of the most polarising figures of the 21st century, was a daunting task for Sebastian Stan. Trump has, at various points, been a general celebrity-adjacent public persona, a reality TV host, and one of America’s most divisive politicians. For Stan, whose on-screen political subterfuge has so far been of the fictional kind as the MCU’s Winter Soldier, this was one of the biggest challenges of his career.

The Process of Parsing Trump

As Stan tells Empire, the process of parsing everything that swirls around Donald Trump – the anger, the adoration, the hate-him-or-love-him obsession – while synthesising what needed to come across in The Apprentice was one hell of a challenge. “Working on it with Ali was like riding a psychotic horse through a blazing stable,” the actor says. It was a role that not only required getting inside Trump, but also assessing everything outside of him too.

A Human Being

The result is a film that explores the moulding of the Trump we know under the wing of New York attorney Roy Cohn (played by Jeremy Strong), dialling into the man behind the maelstrom. “The film normalises him. To some degree,” notes Stan. “There’s a preference to speak about him in a very selective, sort of distanced way. Like he’s this separate entity from the rest of us humans here on Earth. He’s either God, in the skies, blessed by everything, or he’s like Satan incarnate into the depths of the Earth. And the truth is, he is a human being. The movie shows there is much more here to relate and understand than I think we’re willing to admit. And to me, there’s a journey of watching a man turn to stone over a process of time.”

Read the Full Story

Read Empire’s full The Apprentice story – speaking to Sebastian Stan and Ali Abbasi about their provocative Donald Trump origin story – in the 40 Years Of The Terminator issue, on sale Thursday 26 September. Order a copy online here. The Apprentice comes to UK cinemas from 18 October.

Conclusion

Playing Donald Trump was a challenging and complex role for Sebastian Stan, requiring him to get inside the mind of a polarising figure and assess everything outside of him too. The result is a film that explores the moulding of the Trump we know and shows there is much more to relate and understand than we are willing to admit.

FAQs

Q: What was the biggest challenge of playing Donald Trump for Sebastian Stan?
A: The biggest challenge was parsing everything that swirls around Trump – the anger, the adoration, the hate-him-or-love-him obsession – while synthesising what needed to come across in The Apprentice.

Q: How did Sebastian Stan prepare for the role of Donald Trump?
A: Stan watched everything, including impersonations and documentaries, to get a sense of Trump’s mannerisms and personality.

Q: What does Sebastian Stan think about the film’s portrayal of Donald Trump?
A: Stan believes the film shows there is much more to relate and understand about Trump than we are willing to admit, and that it’s a journey of watching a man turn to stone over a process of time.