Sebastian Stan revealed how much time and effort he put into preparing to play Donald Trump in the upcoming movie ‘The Apprentice.’
In a recent interview with Variety, Stan explained that he spent hours watching hundreds of videos and looking at photos of Trump to get his mannerisms right. “I had 130 videos on his physicality on my phone,” he admitted.” And 562 videos that I had pulled with pictures from different time periods so I could pull out his speech patterns and try to improvise like him.”
Stan said he wanted to understand Trump’s unique way of talking, especially how he used consonants and moved his lips when he spoke.
Stan also shared that he practiced speaking like Trump for hours to get it right. Director Ali Abbasi often asked him to improvise scenes based on real-life situations during filming. “Every night I would go home and try not only to prepare for the day that was coming but also to prepare for where Ali was going to take this,” he said.
Stan put a lot of work into this movie, but he admitted he’s not sure if he got Trump’s voice exactly right. He’s not worried about whether people think his portrayal is accurate, though. “I did my best,” he said confidently. “I don’t know. Some people will think that was good or some people will think it’s sh*t. I don’t care.”
Directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Gabriel Sherman, ‘The Apprentice’ tells the story of Trump’s early career as a real estate businessman in New York during the 1970s. Stan plays Trump, and ‘Succession’ star Jeremy Strong appears as Trump’s mentor Roy Cohn. Other cast members include Maria Bakalova and Martin Donovan.
‘The Apprentice’ is set to be released in theaters on October 11.
