‘Do you trust this man?:’ Sebastian Stan has a scathing response to Donald Trump’s ‘The Apprentice’ censorship attempts

Go off, king!

The Apprentice recently had its U.K. premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. Given that the U.S. election is a mere nineteen days away, political questions are pretty much expected. The Hollywood Reporter did just that.

On the carpet, they asked Stan if this film could potentially persuade voters towards Trump. Stan responded with, “I don’t know,” which is a valid response. He’s an actor; he wouldn’t know.

However, he went on to say:

If you have any inkling of interest, go and really ask yourself: ‘Who is this man? Do you really know? Do you really trust this person to lead a country?’ He’s been trying to censor this movie, and at the same time, he claims that he acknowledges free speech … I can’t think of anything more hypocritical. So at the end of the day, it’s about him as a character. Forget the politics and just go in there and use your instinct and ask yourself: Do you trust this man? That’s what the movie is about.

And you know what? He’s right. Forget your politics for a second and focus on the type of person that Trump is. That’s where the answer to the question should be. I love that Stan was open about his criticism, which makes since given that he escaped Romania as a child with his mother. Since the original announcement of The Apprentice I have seen a fair amount of criticism that because Stan took on the role, he was automatically sympathetic toward Trump. That is an incredibly black-and-white view to have, given the risks Stan has taken in the past in his career.

Is the film without flaw? Of course not. Any kind of biopic like this is in danger of eventually veering into some sort of sympathy for the subject, since we as humans inherently want to emphasize with who we see on screen. There is a bit of softball being played with the true legacy of Trump (especially since his years as President were not included). But, in my opinion, having the cast and creative team behind the film be vocal about their dislike for Trump goes a long way.

People listen to what celebrities have to say. It’s just the truth. I hope that Stan keeps not pulling punches for the rest of the press tour for this film. Seeing Donald Trump have consistent meltdowns about this “classless” movie is worth the price of admission.