Sebastian StanHowever, commit to “The”. Most importantly, he believed in the director, an Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi. And, even though it made him nervous—or maybe because it made him nervous—he wanted to do it anyway. Donald Trump.
“There’s not much competition,” Stan said with a smile.
“That’s one of the things I thought about: If it’s not going to happen, it’s not going to happen because of me,” Stan said. “It’s not going to happen because I’m afraid.”
Through landslides,”apprentice“The Apprentice” is the most controversial movie of the fall. Well known in real estate circles.
After its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, offers came in from major studios and top professional brands. One potential problem is a cease-and-desist letter from Trump’s legal team. Another reason is that one of the film’s investors — former Washington Commanders owner and Trump supporter Dan Snyder — wanted out of the film.
Just last week, briarcliff entertainment corp. It was announced that The Apprentice will be released on October 11, just weeks before Election Day. And it’s still competing for more screens. On Tuesday, the filmmakers took the unusual step of launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the film’s release.
“This project was crazy from start to finish,” Abbasi said. “It’s not quite there yet. Maybe it’s going to get crazier.”
Trump’s reelection campaign strongly opposed the film. After the premiere in Cannes, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Chang called the film “pure fiction.” On Friday, after the release date was set, Chang declared it “election interference by Hollywood elites.”
What role, if any, “The Apprentice” may play before its Nov. 5 release will be one of the most compelling storylines in cinema this fall. While many Hollywood stars are outspoken supporters of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, overtly political films are rare in today’s movie industry dominated by sequels and superheroes. This poses a unique election-year test case: Would liberals want to see a movie about Trump? Will conservatives support a movie that Trump opposes?
Abbasi, whose last film “The Spider” raised questions about Iranian society through the story of a serial killer who targets women, said he was not trying to tell anyone how to vote.
“Do I want to show you something about character? Yeah, I really like that and I think we have some great stuff to show,” Abbasi said. “How you use this knowledge is up to you. But if you want to go vote, this knowledge may come in handy.”
For Abbasi, grappling with contemporary politics is his responsibility as a filmmaker. Abbasi believes that despite Trump’s omnipresence, attempts to truly understand the former president have been minimal.
“For Donald and Ivana, they were never really seen as human beings,” Abbasi said. “They are either treated badly or very well – it’s like a myth. If you want to break the myth, the only way is to deconstruct it. I think a humanistic perspective is the best way to deconstruct the myth. “
“For me, the best opponent for him is Barry Lyndon,” Abbasi added, referring to Stanley Kubrick Movie of the same name. “When you think of Barry Lyndon, you don’t think of that guy as a bad guy or a good guy. He has this ambivalence and this uncanny ability to navigate. He wants to be someone. He doesn’t really know what or why he just wants to promote.
While Stan and Strong received critical acclaim, The Apprentice received mixed reviews at the Cannes Film Festival. Notable in the movie is the scene where Trump, played by Stan, rapes Ivana (played by Maria Bakalova). In Ivana Trump’s 1990 divorce deposition, she said Trump raped her. Trump denied the accusation, and Ivana Trump later said she didn’t mean it literally but felt she had been violated.
However, Abbasi insists The Apprentice was not a hit. He insisted that Trump himself might like the movie. Meanwhile, some critics have questioned whether “The Apprentice” shows too much sympathy for Trump and Cohen.
“I don’t think any of us are above it. I don’t think any of us are born perfect people or we’re not morally compromised,” Stan said. “Life is really messier and trickier than that. I think the only way we learn is through empathy. I think we have to protect empathy and continue to nourish it. I think one way to nourish empathy is to show It could be the complete opposite.
Stan, who plays Butch Barnes (The Winter Soldier) in the Marvel movies, was attracted to the film in part because Abbasi, who is from Copenhagen, brought a European perspective. Stan, who was born in Romania and immigrated to the New York area with his mother when he was 12, had some of the same experience. He sees the film as the origin story of the “win at all costs” ideology.
Strong is known for staying in character. (Abasi recalled that he was sometimes confused by Strong’s behavior on set before realizing he was still Roy Cohn.) But Stan also dabbled in this immersion without realizing it. He mentioned his eating habits, including a scene where he repeatedly eats cheese balls.
“I must have eaten 25 to 30 cheese balls that night,” Stan said. “I woke up the next morning and, sorry, I was picked up in the toilet at 6:30 in the morning. I was in so much pain. I couldn’t leave that toilet and was like: Yeah, I guess this is method acting.”
Abbasi is in disbelief when the fate of “The Apprentice” seems uncertain. He felt he had made an edgy film, but a fun one.
“I always think about America, and yes, it’s not a perfect place. But one thing always repeats to me: This is the land of the free. This is the land of free speech. You can say what you want here.” ,” Abbasi said. “That’s not what I encountered. What I encountered was purely a business calculation.”
echoes these sentiments strongly.
“It was almost effectively banned, and I found it, taken on its own, to be very scary and a harbinger of dark things,” Strong said. “But first and foremost, it’s a movie. It’s not a political act or a political event. It’s a movie.”
Ultimately, all three of them just want people to watch The Apprentice with an open mind.
“We have a very black-and-white mentality right now, and I knew that when I watched the movie,” Stan said. “But let’s take the road less traveled, and maybe others will do the same. I think we have to pay attention to those public figures who have had an important impact on our time, on our lives, and we have to reflect and evaluate them.”
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