Sebastian Stan is set to portray Donald Trump in the upcoming biopic, The Apprentice, directed by Ali Abbasi.
According to Deadline, the film will follow a young Trump’s ascent to power and prestige in New York in the ‘70s and ‘80s, with Maria Bakalova (Bodies, Bodies, Bodies) cast as Ivana Trump and Jeremy Strong (Succession) as Roy Cohn.
Per Variety, the film’s logline explains that it’s an “exploration of power and ambition set in a world of corruption and deceit. It’s a mentor-protege story that charts the origins of an American dynasty. Filled with larger than life characters, it reveals the moral and human cost of a culture defined by winners and losers.”
The Apprentice will be written by Gabriel Sherman, whose book, The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News – and Divided a Country, was adapted into Showtime’s The Loudest Voice, starring Russell Crowe as Roger Ailes. Sherman will have an executive producer credit for The Apprentice, along with Grant Johnson and Amy Baer. The film will be co-produced by Daniel Beckerman of Scythia Films, Jacob Jerek of Profile Pictures, Ruth Treacy of Taylored Films.
Stan is perhaps best known as Marvel’s Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier. This past year, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Tommy Lee in the Hulu limited series, Pam & Tommy, and appeared in Apple TV+ series, Sharper. In September, he played Robinhood co-founder Vlad Tenev in the GameStop short squeeze movie, Dumb Money.
As for Abbasi, his 2023 film, Holy Spider, became Denmark’s entry for best international feature film at the 2023 Academy Awards. This past year, he directed two episodes of the HBO series, The Last of Us.
This past August, Trump became the first US president to sit for a mugshot after he was booked at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, facing charges of racketeering and related offenses. To honor the occasion, Green Day sold shirts of the image interpolated with the artwork for their 1997 LP, Nimrod.