Following the premiere of the Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, Sebastian Stan, who portrays the controversial reality TV star turned president, is calling Trump out for attempted censorship.
“He’s been trying to censor this movie, and at the same time, he claims that he acknowledges free speech … I can’t think of anything more hypocritical,” Stan told The Hollywood Reporter at the BFI London Film Festival.
In typical Trump form, the presidential hopeful hasn’t minced words when it comes to his feelings around the Ali Abbasi-directed film. He called it “FAKE” and “CLASSLESS” in a Sunday Truth Social rant after the film struggled to find an audience in its opening weekend.
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“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,” Trump declared.
In addition to calling out Trump’s hypocrisy, Stan also spoke about whether or not the film could influence Americans before Election Day next month.
“I don’t know, but what I do hope is that people, regardless of their opinion, are curious enough to try to dig deeper,” he urged potential viewers. “Because I think we’re living in a world where it’s so easy to be handed an opinion everywhere you turn.”
At its core, Stan says the film is about Trump “as a character,” telling people who see the film, “Forget the politics and just go in there and use your instinct and ask yourself: Do you trust this man? That’s what the movie is about.”
The film chronicles the presidential hopeful’s antics as a New York City businessman in the 1970s and 1980s. Succession’s Jeremy Strong also stars as Roy Cohn, Trump’s real-life lawyer who acted as his nefarious right-hand man and mentor.
