Trump biopic star Sebastian Stan slams Hollywood elites for refusing to acknowledge election win
Actor Sebastian Stan slammed Hollywood's elites for refusing to acknowledge Donald Trump's 2024 presidential win and for shying away from the actor over his portrayal of Trump in a recent film.
Stan, 42, who was praised for his performance as the former president in The Apprentice, said actors refuse to discuss the president-elect, despite Trump winning the election and the popular vote.
'For many, the idea that Trump is the same as any one of us is a really difficult thing to deal with at the moment and I understand the emotions are very high, but I think that's the only way you're going to grasp this film,' Stan said during an Q&A session in Los Angeles with the film's director, Ali Abbasi.
'All it's saying is you cannot keep casting this person aside, especially after they get the popular vote. Should we not give this a closer look and try to understand what it is about this person that's even driving that?'
The Marvel actor said he had to pass on Variety's Actors on Actors series because no one would appear with him over their reluctance to discuss Trump
Stan scrambled to find another actor to sit across from him for the popular series, but said they were all 'too afraid to go and talk about this movie' - a film Trump himself slammed as a 'cheap' and 'classless.'
'We couldn't get pass the publicists or the people representing them because [they] were too afraid to talk about this movie,' he told the crowd.
Stan admitted that a lot of Americans are 'exhausted' by Trump, but his job was simply to portray the businessman.
Sebastian Stan (pictured as Donald Trump) was praised for his portrayal of the former president in The Apprentice, but admitted that fellow actors were 'too afraid to go and talk about this movie'
'All it's saying is you cannot keep casting this person aside, especially after they get the popular vote. Should we not give this a closer look and try to understand what it is about this person that’s even driving that?' Stan said of Trump
'I get it, like we're all exhausted of this person,' Stan said. 'My job was to try to, you know, we were trying to get to the truth of it and looking at all of the facts.'
Trump blasted the film as 'fake' on his social media platform, Truth Social.
'It's a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country,' Trump wrote.
'The writer of this pile of garbage, Gabe Sherman, a lowlife and talentless hack, who has long been widely discredited, knew that, but chose to ignore it,' he continued.
'So sad that HUMAN SCUM, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want in order to hurt a Political Movement, which is far bigger than any of us.'
The film - which was released October 11 - struggled to attract audiences, earning only an estimated $1.58 million despite a $16 million production budget and a release in 1,750 theaters.
The film chronicles Trump's real estate career.
Directed by Abbasi, who told DailyMail.com he considered casting an actress to play the former president, the film faced legal hurdles earlier this year from Trump's attorneys seeking to block its release.
Its opening day results were particularly underwhelming, with the film grossing around $150,000.
Stan (pictured with director Ali Abbasi) admitted that a lot of Americans are 'exhausted' by Trump, but that his job was simply to portray the businessman - a feat the former president slammed as 'cheap' and 'classless'
Despite the poor box office numbers, the movie, featuring Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Republican operative Roy Cohn, has received mostly positive reviews.
Meanwhile, its production company, Briarcliff Entertainment, is reportedly aiming to position the film for awards consideration.
In a largely positive review, The New York Times called the film 'gleefully vulgar' and said there was a 'startling' resemblance between its lead actors and the real-life men they portray.
Reviewer Manohla Dargis wrote: 'Each actor has clearly made an attentive study of his character's real-life counterpart, his mannerisms, how he moves and especially his voice.'
She added: '[w]hile the movie encourages you to laugh at his extremes, his vanity and braggadocio, the one thing that the filmmakers don't prepare you for, even if you should know better, is the magnitude of the American tragedy rapidly unfolding before you.'
