Sebastian Stan is on an island, he revealed in a recent Q&A, when it comes to promoting the Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, as no other actor wants to have to discuss his role in the film—or Trump.
While discussing the movie in Los Angeles this week, Stan said he had the opportunity to take part in Variety’s popular “Actors on Actors” interview series, in which actors interview one another, but no other actor was willing to discuss Trump.
“They were too afraid to to go and talk about this movie,” he said on stage next to Apprentice director Ali Abbasi, “So I couldn’t do it.”
“I’ve got to do a lot of great things, and that’s not pointing at anyone specific. It was—we couldn’t get past the publicists or the people representing them, because [the actors were] too afraid to talk about this movie.” Stan explained, “That’s when I think we lose the situation, because if it really becomes like that— fear or that discomfort to talk about this, then we’re really going to have a problem.”
Stan has publicly expressed his feelings about the president-elect as he promotes the film, including hitting back at Trump over his efforts to block the film: “He’s been trying to censor this movie, and at the same time, he claims that he acknowledges free speech,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, adding, “I can’t think of anything more hypocritical.”
And the actor has also continued to express his concerns over the state of the country following Trump’s election win, which he shared at the Motion Picture Academy’s Governors Awards this past weekend. “I’m deeply worried about what’s going to happen [after Trump’s win],” he said. “I’m also worried about how used to—how easy it’s gotten to be desensitized and to ignore the truth [about Trump]. And you know, one of the reasons that he’s wanted to stop the movie and prevent people from seeing it is because clearly it reflects something that’s true about him. And it just shows fear in my eyes.”
“I think the movie’s more relevant than ever now because if we’re talking about somebody who won the popular vote, then I would say we need to look at him a little bit more closely than just an SNL impression,” Stan said. “I think we need to look at things in more uncomfortable ways, which means really trying to understand, ‘Why is this man so loved by certain people? What is it about him that connects with certain people?’”
“It doesn’t seem like people want to look at the truth right now,” he added, as the film suffers from low public interest at the box office.
At least one actor is willing to “look at the truth,” however. Stan’s I, Tonya costar Paul Walter-Hauser offered to do the “Actors on Actors” interview with him via X after learning of Stan’s comments from the Q&A, calling him a “good-hearted intelligent dude” and “one of our great actors.”
Trump himself has dismissed the film, which includes a scene in which he rapes his ex-wife Ivana Trump, as “pure fiction.”
