Sebastian Stan says everyone refused to be paired with him for Variety‘s annual Actors on Actors interview segment out of fear of talking about his latest film, The Apprentice. Stan plays a young Donald Trump next to Succession‘s Jeremy Strong as lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn in a film that was heavily criticized by the president-elect at the time of its release, a month before the 2024 elections.
“I had an offer to do Variety‘s Actors on Actors this Friday,” Stan explained at a Tuesday screening of The Apprentice with director Ali Abassi (Border, Holy Spider). “And I couldn’t find another actor to do it with me, because they were too afraid to go and talk about this movie,” he continued. The 42-year-old then explained that the requests didn’t even make it past the other participants’ publicity teams. This year’s Actors on Actors line-up has not yet been revealed.
Trump called the film a “piece of garbage” even though it’s been both praised and criticized for humanizing the politician
In October, Trump attacked The Apprentice on his social network, Truth Social, calling the people involved in the film “HUMAN SCUM” trying to sabotage his campaign. “It’s a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country,” he continued, also accusing it of being “fake,” “classless,” and a “piece of garbage.”
The film’s narrative begins in the 1970s, where Cohn, seeing Trump’s potential, uses his influence to help his protégé get ahead in his public life, often via blackmail and other illegal methods. This effectively sets Trump on the path to become the New York mogul that would eventually run for president, but also illustrates how his surroundings impacted him negatively. According to Abbasi, even after premiering at Cannes to a standing ovation, finding a distributor for The Apprentice was “extremely difficult,” most likely given its content and Trump’s threats to sue.
Both the director and his leading man claim the film actually strives to humanize Trump, putting his ascension into context in order to help audiences better understand such a consequential public figure. “I think [Trump] should be grateful, to be honest. We have pretty much handed him, I think, a very complex, three-dimensional take on his life, and I can’t recall anybody else doing that,” Stan told BBC News.
At the same screening where he discussed Actors on Actors, the actor argued that “All [the film] is saying is ‘You cannot keep casting this person aside, especially after they get the popular vote.’” He continued by suggesting, “Should we not give this a closer look and try to understand what it is about this person that’s even driving that?”
Audiences are worried this “fear” could be the start of a trend in Hollywood for the next four years
With The Apprentice not being exactly pro or against Trump, it’s hard to determine what exactly has caused Hollywood to shut it out. Some, however, are starting to notice a pattern of industry people, who were previously happy to be vocally political, now becoming much more restrained with their words, or even cozying up to Trump altogether.
“Yeah, the industry is 100% kowtowing to his incoming admin in a way it didn’t the last time around. Seems bad,” said one X user. “First we get actors apologizing for expressing frustration after the election & now The Apprentice is going to be buried for what? Fear of retribution? This is alarming. We should be alarmed,” added another.
Recently Rachel Zegler, the lead in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Snow White from what is arguably the biggest film studio in the world, Disney, apologized for her passionate post-election reaction. “I let my emotions get the best of me,” the 23-year-old said in a statement posted to her Instagram page on Nov. 15. “I am sorry I contributed to the negative discourse,” she continued, adding that she firmly believes that “everyone has the right to their opinion.”
She had previously called out the “deep sickness” in those who chose to stand behind a man that preaches “a false sense of security, masculinity, intelligence, patriotism, and humanity” and who represents a threat to democracy. Trump is the first American with a criminal record to be elected president. He was found liable for rape in 2023 and convicted of 34 felony counts of falsified business records in 2024.
Zegler also said she hoped Trump and his supporters would never know peace. The backlash was fierce, including Megyn Kelly calling the actress a “pig” and demanding Disney fire her from the production.
Industry leaders and suits also seems to be anticipating Trump’s much more lax approach to market regulation. The Motion Picture Association, a leading Hollywood trade group which represents seven major entertainment studios, congratulated the president-elect on his win and expressed excitement to work with his administration on “a wide range of important issues” for the industry. Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav, meanwhile, went even further by saying that Trump’s upcoming term could “provide a real positive and accelerated impact on this industry that’s needed.” His words were echoed by the chief executives of Sinclair and Nexstar, Chris Ripley and Perry Sook, respectively.
The Apprentice is available to rent or buy via all the usual platforms. You can read We Got This Covered’s review of the film here.
