By George & Josh Bate
Biopics are a mainstay of modern day Hollywood. Singers, politicians, actors, and military personnel have all been in the spotlight in films based on real world events. Few biopics in history though have been as timely and relevant as The Apprentice. As one could guess from the title, The Apprentice is a film focused on arguably the most polarizing figure in American history: Donald Trump. In the U.S., it feels as if he’s never not in the news headlines, more so than ever after the events of this week. The Apprentice might have gotten caught up in all that, hence the relative lack of attention it has received in recent weeks, but it is certainly worth the watch – now more than ever.
The Apprentice comes from director Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider, Shelley) and writer Gabriel Sherman (The Loudest Voice, Independence Day: Resurgence). Starring as the real estate mogul and future president is Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, A Different Man) in a film that kicks off in 1973 and tracks Trump’s rise to prominence. Accompanying Stan’s Donald Trump is Roy Cohn, a contentious and controversial lawyer played by Jeremy Strong (Succession, The Trial of the Chicago 7).
The biggest question of a Donald Trump biopic is can the actor at the center of the story accurately portray a man who is so singularly unique and well-known. Sebastian Stan, who also excels in this year’s A24 movie A Different Man, takes on the daunting task of playing Trump, beginning the film by chronicling Trump’s life in the 1970s. In the first act especially, it feels as if Stan is putting on a mild impression of Trump, pronouncing certain words in specific ways and making some deliberate hand gestures that the American public have come to know incredibly well in the last decade, rather than delivering an entirely immersive and believable performance. There are some moments early on in which it almost feels as if it’s Bucky Barnes, the Marvel hero that stands as Stan’s most successful and famous role, with a wig on sounding and looking kind of like the newly elected president.
None of that is Stan’s fault, however. There is a specific reason why he plays Trump in that manner towards the beginning and, as the film goes on, the audience can see the wheels turning as the 45th president comes more into his own. With the film progressing, Stan slowly grows into the role and, in turn, his character Donald Trump grows into the man we all know today. Trump is seen in a lot of very human interactions early on, such as at the dinner table with his family, where he is far from the patriarch he presents himself as today. He is portrayed as an unreliable and ignorant child, awkwardly posturing and bringing a stiffness to even the most relaxed of occasions. He is not the president yet, nor is he even a legitimate and self-sufficient businessman. Instead, he runs menial errands for his father, before deciding to pursue his dream of building a lavish hotel in the heart of New York City with the help of Roy Cohn, Trump’s lawyer and personal advisor.
Given that Trump becomes more and more successful as the film goes on, it can be easy to misinterpret The Apprentice as a rags-to-riches underdog story. But that is certainly not what happened in real life, nor is it portrayed as such in Abbasi’s film. Trump is wealthy beyond belief right from the get-go, and his initial actions are far from moral or upstanding, particularly as he collected rent from underprivileged families and evicted them quickly if they were late on payments. In this sense, The Apprentice is also not a Breaking Bad-esque story of a good man turned bad, as Trump’s true nature is loudly on display from the beginning. What the film portrays as it progresses is the moral devolution of a man who didn’t have great moral character to begin with.
In many ways, The Apprentice is an origin story for the personality and values of the Donald Trump we know today. More specifically, an origin story for the disloyalty, distortion of the truth, narcissism, and corruption of the infamous figure. Much of this is achieved by highlighting Trump’s relationship with Roy Cohn, who is brought to life by a brilliantly strange performance from Jeremy Strong. The first two acts of the film see Stan’s Trump and Strong’s Cohn largely side-by-side, offering insight into Trump’s insecurities and desire to impress.
Who The Apprentice appeals to is a perplexing question. Most of the audience isn’t going to like it (Trump’s supporters will likely steer clear of this film, while his opposition are already inundated with him). That then begs the question of how a film can work if the main character is so polarizing to an extent that it puts into question the biopic’s appeal. The Apprentice walks that tight rope extremely well though, telling a captivating story that you can’t help but watch, no matter how much you might want to look away. Some of that also has to do with the humor throughout. Trump is known for a signature style of speech and various (unintentionally) comical moments, and that comedy is certainly present throughout the film. In this sense, The Apprentice plays much like a dark comedy – a film that you can’t help but crack a smile during, despite the evil portrayed on screen.
All of this puts even more pressure on Sebastian Stan. He not only has to portray an unportrayable human being, but he has to integrate humor and personal development throughout. Stan has great chemistry with Strong, who teaches Trump many of the tactics he still uses to this day, such as never admitting defeat and always claiming victory even if you didn’t win. Trump takes all of that on in the film, and the audience can see the building blocks stacking as more and more of the modern man comes out. With that comes some significant performance shifts from Stan as the story progresses, and he is acting almost entirely differently in the last scene compared to the first. The immorality, fake opulence, and classlessness is still there in both, but it’s significantly more apparent come the end of the film as Trump has weaseled his way into becoming one of the most powerful men in the world. At first, Stan does a decent Trump impression and has the costume to make him look like Trump. But, by the end, Stan entirely becomes Trump. More admirably, this transformation is not in an overt manner as seen in some biopics (Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, for instance). Instead, the immersive and authentic quality of Stan’s performance comes from a commitment to delivering the true essence and feeling of Donald Trump, rather than a more superficial impression.
VERDICT: 8/10
Aligned perfectly with the 2024 U.S. presidential election, The Apprentice arrives as one of the most timely and relevant biopics to ever release. Sebastian Stan takes on the seemingly impossible role of Donald Trump and, much like Trump himself, grows into the character over the course of the film. What results is a career-best performance from Stan, one that does not rely on overt transformation, but, rather, comes from an authentic commitment to exhibiting the true essence of Donald Trump. The film subverts issues that many biopics possess in glossing over too much of importance or trying to squeeze too much into a single film. Instead, Abbasi’s movie excellently paints a picture of Donald Trump and concisely portrays his origin story with simultaneous depth and brevity. The extent to which the inevitably divisive movie appeals to an audience remains unclear, as does the question of who this movie is really intended for. Ultimately, however, The Apprentice is a necessary story to tell, a darkly comedic biopic styled like a home-movie that pieces together the psychology of one of history’s most controversial figures.