Sebastian Stan was told it was 'too dangerous' to play Donald Trump
Sebastian Stan has revealed he was warned not to play US President-elect Donald Trump in his movie 'The Apprentice' because it was "too dangerous" and might "alienate people".
Sebastian Stan was warned not to play Donald Trump in 'The Apprentice' because it was "too dangerous".
The 42-year-old actor tackled the role of the US President-elect in Ali Abbasi's film - which focuses on Trump's rise in the business world before he entered politics - and has now admitted he was urged not to take the job on 'The Apprentice' because of the possible repercussions.
During an appearance on Variety's 'Awards Circuit Podcast', he explained: "This film has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
"Not just because of the complexities of playing Trump, but because of the reaction it provokes ...
"I had people telling me not to do it. They said it might alienate people, that I didn’t look like him, that it was too dangerous. But for me, acting is about going toward the uncomfortable … about trying to understand humanity, even in the darkest places."
Stan went on to insist 'The Apprentice' doesn't sympathise with Trump - and instead just tries to understand him better.
He added: "I think people interpret understanding as an attempt to sympathize, and that’s not the goal here. The film asks: would you trust this man? Would you put your life in his hands?”
Stan went on to confess he's had plenty of praise for the role but few people have been willing to applaud him publicly, adding: "It’s been revealing to see how hesitant people are.
"I’ve had people come up to me at parties, saying it’s their favorite film of the year, but when it comes to supporting it publicly, there’s silence. That part of it has been tough."
Stan previously revealed he studied around 700 videos of Trump to play him in 'The Apprentice'.
The 'Gossip Girl' star saved hundreds of clips on his phone dating back to the 1970s so he could study Trump's speech and body language.
He previously told Variety: "I had 130 videos on his physicality on my phone. And 562 videos that I had pulled with pictures from different time periods - from the ’70s all the way to today - so I could pull out his speech patterns and try to improvise like him."
After studying the way Trump speaks, Stan realised he would have to change the way he moved his lips.
He explained: "I started to realise that I needed to start speaking with my lips in a different way. "A lot of that came from the consonants. If I’m talking, I’m moving forward ... The consonants naturally forced your lips forward."
Director Abbasi told the publication that his leading man had to find the correct balance when playing Trump so it didn't stray into the realms of impersonation.
He added: "If he did 10 per cent more of what he did, it would become ‘Saturday Night Live'. If he did 10 per cent less, then he’s not conjuring that person. "But here’s the thing about Sebastian: He’s very inspired by reality, by research. And that’s also the way I work; if you want to go to strange places, you need to get your baseline reality covered very well."
The film covers Trump's rise from real estate developer to a household name in the 1980s and is set before he became the star of his own reality TV show 'The Apprentice' which gives the movie its name.
