Sebastian Stan’s fellow actors want nothing to do with his controversial Donald Trump movie, he says – at least not publicly.
The 42-year-old “Avengers” star has revealed that he has been invited to appear on Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, which pairs two performers and interviews each other. But according to Stan, the role didn’t materialize because other actors were unwilling to discuss playing President-elect Trump in the biopic “The Apprentice.”
“I had an offer to be a variety actor on ‘Actor’ this Friday, but they couldn’t find any actors to work with me. They were afraid to go and talk about the movie, so I couldn’t do it.” Stan said. he said at a screening of the film, according to a video shared on social media.
The “Pam & Tommy” actor pointed out that this contrasts with how Hollywood actors, directors and others have praised the film in private conversations.
But Stan said he was not blaming any particular party and suggested that the request may not have gone to everyone personally.
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Sebastian Stan talks about completely playing Trump in his new movie ‘The Apprentice’
“I couldn’t ignore the publicists and their representatives,” he said.
Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setudeh confirmed Stan’s account in a statement to USA TODAY.
“What Sebastian said is accurate. We invited him to be on the biggest series of awards season, ‘Actors on Actors,’ but the other actors were paired with Sebastian because they didn’t want to talk about Donald Trump.” “I didn’t want to team up with them.”
After the clip went viral on X, an actor volunteered to talk to Stan and make the interview happen. “Will you do it?” “Richard Jewell” star Paul Walter Hauser wrote. However, according to an X post by Setoodeh, the latest “Actors on Actors” season has already ended.
Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series features two celebrities sitting down for a conversation, usually about their hot, award-winning projects. A-list stars typically attend, with past guests including Robert Downey Jr. and Jennifer Aniston.
Did Donald Trump Rape His Wife Ivana? Is The Apprentice Facts Fiction?
The Apprentice, in which Stan stars as a young Trump, has been controversial since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The former president has threatened to sue over a biopic depicting him raping his then-wife Ivana Trump. Ivana recanted her rape allegation against Trump in 2015.
Director Ali Abbasi brushed off Trump’s threat to sue in May, saying the 45th president should see the film for himself.
“I don’t necessarily think he hates this movie,” he said at a Cannes press conference. “I don’t necessarily think he would like it. I think he would be surprised. … I would offer to meet him wherever he wants, talk about the background of the film, have a screening, and chat afterwards. .”
Abbasi told Entertainment Weekly in an interview last month that he had trouble finding a distributor for the film after its Cannes premiere. “I understand from a business standpoint of not wanting to cause problems, but we’re not in the ice cream business,” he said. “We don’t sell shoes, so yeah, it was shocking.”
In a Truth Social post in October, President Trump called the film “a cheap, defamatory, politically charged film released just before the 2024 presidential election that seeks to undermine the greatest political movement in our nation’s history.” “It’s an ax job that leaves people feeling disgusted.”
The Apprentice ultimately opened in theaters in October to little fanfare, grossing less than $5 million at the domestic box office.
