Sebastian Stan Is Donald Trump In First Image From The Apprentice

Sebastian Stan is no stranger to governmental subterfuge on screen. In fact, a decade ago he was causing international incidents in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, caught up in a conspiracy that went all the way to the top. But for his next role – firmly away from the MCU – he’s playing a guy who was (somehow, bafflingly, upsettingly) at the very top for four long years. Yes, in Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, Stan will be playing a young Donald Trump – and the film has just unveiled a first-look image, which you can see above.

We know – it’s upsetting to see someone as likeable on-screen as Sebastian Stan playing someone as [REDACTED] as Donald J. Trump. Frankly, we’d sooner be mates with his cannibalistic killer from 2022’s Fresh. Starring alongside Stan in The Apprentice are Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn (also seen in the image), with Tenet’s Martin Donovan as the elder Fred Trump, and – in an incredible piece of casting – Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. Here’s the brief official synopsis: “The Apprentice is a dive into the underbelly of the American empire. It charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn.”

How exactly the film will choose to tackle Trump – and what points it’ll make about his early business career, and eventual rise to the Presidency – remains to be seen. But the film has been confirmed today to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this May, so expect reactions before too long. Now, we’re off to rewatch The Winter Soldier and feel ok about everything again.