There was a time, way before the ‘Winter Solider’, when Sebastian Stan was simply the pretty boy of network TV. He stayed in the background and embellished the overall picture, be it in “Gossip Girl” or “Once Upon A Time”, but for a few years now you can see that the actor has realized where his place is, is entering moral grey areas and no longer just wants to be the charming Adonis, but is taking on a new caliber.
And yet you don’t really want to believe that HE really wants to embody such a grotesque figure as Donald Trump. It shouldn’t work, but Sebastian Stan manages to completely disappear into this role during the biopic “The Apprentice”, which focuses on the politician’s younger years, and with every passing minute he manages to implement more mannerisms and well-crafted observations that make it far more than just a caricature – no, he imbues Trump with a genuine character.
Biopics work best when they focus on a specific chapter of the character’s life and director Ali Abbasi seems to find the right balance between combining a character study from the past for contemporary witnesses and showing the audience the roots of Donald Trump, so that the media and art figure, as we would probably rather perceive him and hardly believe it ourselves, is a real person with body and soul. Based on the real estate industry and life in New York in the 70s and 80s, we accompany this character as his fate unfolds, which, although highly despised, will later lead him to immerse himself in politics. In the end this movie is all about the American dream, for better or for worse.
Through his advisor and lawyer Roy Cohn, brilliantly portrayed as always by Jeremy Strong, an American horror story unfolds over almost 2 hours that couldn’t be more patriotic and shows that this man has always been driven by the ambition to win – no matter what the cost.
One wishes for Sebastian Stan to be recognized for this glorious performance, but in return we all know that should this really happen, the real Donald, in his typical Trump fashion, would only twist the facts again and turn everything around on himself. Because in the end life always imitates art.
