Sebastian Stan is a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice, in theaters Friday.
The film follows Trump’s journey to become the man we know him as today, through his beginnings as the protégé to cutthroat attorney Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong.
Stan told ABC Audio he researched the period in which Trump is not as well remembered to “try to kind of piece together what happened,” including the former president’s stint at military school and his early relationship with his father.
“You’re putting a puzzle together and you’re hopefully trying to do it in a way that people don’t expect or haven’t seen,” Stan said. “That meant looking at all of the things that we know so far and getting them aside to get to the truth.”
In order to play Cohn, Strong said he approached it like he approaches every job.
“This is probably a controversial statement, but I don’t see him as a villain,” Strong said. “I don’t really see anyone as a hero or a villain. I think that that’s a false dichotomy. He’s certainly complex, but I approach him the same way I approach any character I’ve ever played, and I’ve played people who people think are despicable and I’ve played people who people think are, you know, wonderful.”
With the presidential election looming, Stan says The Apprentice is worth watching.
“Coming at this from a human place and truly asking ourselves, ‘How do I instinctively feel about this person? Is this someone I trust? Is this someone I believe? Does it even matter?’ You know, I think there’s value in that, and there’s a lot at stake. And if we value truth and truly freedom, not convenient freedom, not selective freedom, then, yeah, I think it’s worth watching.”
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