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‘The Apprentice’s Sebastian Stan Says He Didn’t “Get Sleep” Playing Donald Trump

Glenn Garner
2 min read
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As Sebastian Stan promotes his most controversial role yet, hopefully he’s getting some well-deserved rest.

The Golden Globe nominee recently opened up about how he got into character as Donald Trump for the upcoming Ali Abbasi-helmed film The Apprentice, which premieres Oct. 11 in US theaters, just in time for the undecided voters ahead of Election Day.

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“It’s a Marvel film,” he joked on the Today show before explaining his process. “Well, [you] try to get sleep, which I didn’t. There’s a lot of research out there, there’s a lot of footage and documentary. It’s pretty much been very well documented, his sort of rise into what we see today. And to me, it’s like playing an instrument. You sit at the piano, you get better at it with practice, and eventually you can just kinda do it in your sleep.”

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Let’s just hope he didn’t get too lost in the character, especially starring alongside Emmy, Golden Globe winner and noted method actor, Jeremy Strong.

Written by Gabe Sherman, The Apprentice charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn (Strong). The movie also stars Martin Donovan as Fred Trump Sr., and Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump.

Maria Bakalova & Sebastian Stan  in 'The Apprentice'
Maria Bakalova and Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice

After the film had its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival in May, where it received an 11-minute ovation, Trump’s campaign issued a cease-and-desist attempting to stop the film from screening in the US. But the letter appears to have been fruitless as the title went on to screen at Telluride Film Festival last month.

The first trailer for the film dropped earlier this month, coinciding with Trump’s ABC News debate against his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

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