‘Apprentice’ star Sebastian Stan says other actors are ‘afraid’ to talk about Trump biopic

“The Apprentice” star Sebastian Stan, who portrays a young Donald Trump successful the biopic released past month, revealed this week his co-stars and different actors person since distanced themselves from the arguable task retired of fear.

The biographical drama, directed by Ali Abbasi, chronicles the aboriginal days of the president-elect erstwhile helium was a rising Manhattan existent property tycoon successful the 1970s and ’80s. It besides explores his narration with lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn, played successful the movie by Emmy-winning “Succession” prima Jeremy Strong.

Amid the film’s theatrical rollout successful October, Trump trashed the task connected societal media — calling it “a cheap, defamatory and politically disgusting hatchet job.” He slammed the radical progressive successful the movie arsenic “human scum,” and suggested it was strategically “put retired close earlier the 2024 statesmanlike election, to effort and wounded the top governmental question successful the past of our country.”

Following the film’s merchandise and Trump’s statesmanlike victory conscionable weeks later, Stan said different actors person been unwilling to publically sermon the contentious movie oregon the polarizing fig astatine the halfway of it.

During a Q&A astir the movie successful Los Angeles this week, Stan revealed helium wasn’t capable to enactment successful an upcoming bid for Variety’s “Actors connected Actors,” which features one-on-one conversations betwixt actors discussing their work.

“I couldn’t find different histrion to bash it with me, due to the fact that they were excessively acrophobic to to spell and speech astir this movie. So I couldn’t bash it,” helium said earlier this week, arsenic seen successful a video shared connected societal media.

“We couldn’t get past the publicists oregon the radical representing them, due to the fact that [they were] excessively acrophobic to speech astir this movie,” the 42-year-old added. “And that’s erstwhile I deliberation we suffer the situation. Because if it truly becomes similar that — fearfulness oregon that discomfort to speech astir this — past we’re truly going to person a problem.”

Variety Co-Editor successful Chief Ramin Setoodeh confirmed Stan’s account.

“What Sebastian said is accurate. We invited him to enactment successful ‘Actors connected Actors,’ the biggest franchise of awards season, but other actors didn’t privation to brace with him due to the fact that they didn’t privation to speech astir Donald Trump,” helium said successful a connection to the media.

Despite Trump’s scathing review, Stan antecedently said helium “should beryllium grateful” the movie depicts him successful a “complex, three-dimensional” way, noting those who worked connected the task weren’t funny successful “simply vilifying oregon [demonizing]” the real-life subjects of the movie.