First ‘The Apprentice’ Clip Shows Sebastian Stan Is Donald Trump

Wednesday 04th September 2024 02:32 AM

Topline

A new one-minute clip from “The Apprentice,” the upcoming film dramatizing former President Donald Trump’s rise to New York real estate fame in the 1970s, offers the first look at Sebastian Stan as Trump—an initial glimpse at a movie Trump’s team threatened to sue over.

Sebastian Stan portrays Donald Trump in “The Apprentice.” (Photo by Rocco Spaziani/Archive … [+] Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

Key Facts

In the clip, Stan plays Trump as he talks on the phone with a reporter about his purchase of the Commodore Hotel, with a notably less exaggerated voice that more closely resembles the actor’s real voice than comedic parodies of Trump on “Saturday Night Live.”

The clip follows Trump as he speaks with a reporter over the phone named Judy—a possible reference to Judy Klemesrud, the New York Times reporter who wrote a profile of Trump in 1976, covering his real estate projects.

Jeremy Strong portrays Trump’s former lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn, who sits next to Trump and coaches him through the phone call, making exaggerated gestures and eventually cutting off the phone call and requesting they finish the interview in person.

In the clip, Stan’s Trump tells the reporter he will be successful because he has “flair”—nearly matching a quote Trump gave to Klemesrud in 1976, when he told her his “flair” was one reason he was “bound to be successful in New York.”

Crucial Quote

“I intend to acquire the Commodore, and I’m planning on making it the best and the finest building in the city, maybe the country. In the world, Judy, in the world, it’s going to be the finest building in the world, it’s going to be a spectacular hotel, absolutely spectacular,” Stan’s Trump tells the reporter in the clip, using increasingly grandiose adjectives at the behest of Strong’s Cohn, who mouths words for Trump to use and waves his hands.

Key Background

“The Apprentice” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it received an eight-minute standing ovation from the crowd. The film drew audible gasps for scenes depicting Trump getting liposuction surgery and another depicting him sexually assaulting his ex-wife Ivana Trump—who had claimed in a 1989 divorce deposition that Trump raped her, but later walked back the claim and said she felt “violated” but did not want the word “rape” to be “interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.” Trump and his lawyers repeatedly denied the rape claim. “The Apprentice” reportedly struggled to find a U.S. distributor because of its controversial content, though Briarcliff Entertainment secured distribution rights in August, three months after its Cannes premiere.

What Has Trump Said About “the Apprentice?”

Trump’s presidential campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung threatened to sue “The Apprentice” filmmakers following its Cannes premiere, calling it “garbage” and “pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.” The film’s director, Ali Abbasi, fired back at a Cannes press conference: “Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people — they don’t talk about his success rate though, you know?” Abbasi added he feels the film is more about examining power in the United States instead of a Trump biopic.

Tangent

Trump bought the Commodore Hotel, a hotel in Midtown Manhattan near Grand Central Terminal, in 1976. The hotel underwent $100 million worth of renovations between 1978 and 1980 before reopening as the Grand Hyatt New York. Trump received a 40-year tax abatement to purchase and renovate the hotel, which was considered unprecedented.

What To Watch For

“The Apprentice” will open in theaters on Oct. 11, weeks before Trump faces off against Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day.