To play young Donald Trump in the film The Apprentice to be released this Wednesday, actor Sebastian Stan confided that he had to gain weight, in particular by drinking “three cans of soda a day”.
A complex role. This Wednesday, October 9, the film The Apprentice, retracing the beginnings of Donald Trump in the business world, is released in theaters in France. On this occasion, actor Sebastian Stan, who plays the current candidate for the American presidential election, confided that he had to gain weight.
“I started drinking three cans of soda a day. There was a break for the summer holidays, so I let loose and weighed down seven kilos. I didn’t lose everything…” he admitted.
The director of the film, Ali Abbasi, explained to JDD that he asked his main actor to gain weight so that his face would become rounder, like that of Donald Trump.
“I ordered him to eat exclusively burgers, the people at Marvel were scared. You realize: Bucky Barnes, aka the ‘Winter Soldier’ of the Avengers, was getting fatter!” he told the weekly.
Intense preparation
Sebastian Stan didn’t just prepare to don the Donald Trump costume by gaining a few kilos. The actor explained that he studied all of the businessman’s interviews, videos and recordings between 1970 and 1980, to better understand his way of expressing himself, but also of moving.
Sebastian Stan also explained that he understood “the behavior and personality” of Donald Trump while preparing this film. Much of The Apprentice depicts the young man as a nervous and naive outsider, trying to find his place in the cutthroat, elitist world of Manhattan, of which he knows little.
The film shows how “anyone who grows up in America” can be corrupted by the capitalist society that rewards greed, cruelty and ambition, the actor said.
“Nothing is ever good enough. You watch people succeed but there is always better, you always have to have more,” he added.
For Sebastian Stan, “the most complicated scene” is the one in which his character mourns the loss of his older brother Freddy, who died of alcoholism at the age of 42.
Throughout the feature, Donald Trump genuinely cares about Freddy and Ivana, his estranged wife, before his humanity is dulled by power and wealth. “It’s interesting how we don’t want to take that from him,” the actor noted.
