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The Apprentice: How Sebastian Stan created a Donald Trump biopic that feels like a villain origin story
The Apprentice, directed by Ali Abbasi, won at the Oscars this year, and has finally released in India, courtesy of streaming.
Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice made waves across the world last year around this time, partly for Sebastian Stan’s performance as Donald Trump and partly for managing to release a Trump biopic as he bid for a second term as President. India was one of the markets excluded from the film’s wide release, as the CBFC withheld certification, refusing to approve it. Eventually, this week, the film found its way to the Indian audiences much belatedly, thanks to streaming.
The Apprentice is Trump's ‘origin story’
Before I watched The Apprentice, I was wary of yet another hagiography that turns a polarising figure into an anti-hero, the kind we have seen in American Sniper and the Monster series. But the film surprised me, and pleasantly so. The Apprentice is not about the life and times of Donald Trump. It is not even about his rise to power. It is simply a diatribe in how capitalism corrupts, and serves as almost a villain origin story for every Gen Z liberal’s current Boogeyman.
Director Ali Abbasi takes a simple idea – what if Donald Trump was also once a naïve, albeit morally flexible, ambitious young man. The film takes off from there to show how the Trump (of the film) corrupts himself, without any external pressure or extenuating circumstances. It is a cleverly crafted narrative about Donald Trump’s rise to becoming a loved (and often mocked) real estate baron while still in his 30s.
Where Ali Abbasi succeeds
To Abbasi’s credit, the film brings to the fore Trump’s signature charm, but never makes the mistake of making him relatable or lovable. The film understands that Donald Trump is a charming and magnetic personality. You do not become the President of one of the most powerful nations in the world with a population of 350 million without oodles of charm. However, The Apprentice reveals that the charm is a façade, an exterior that conceals a young man’s ambition. Even as the film stays away from Trump’s politics, it does shed some light on the man he was, a bold move considering how ‘intolerant’ some of his followers can be to any form of criticism.
But then is The Apprentice criticism? Or is it merely documentation? The film is not a documentary. It has a slant, an angle, and some sort of bias that every storyteller has. But it does a great job at sticking to facts, even while making sure they never get in the way of a good story.
Hats off to Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong
A lot of credit should go to the two leads, too. Sebastian Stan as a young Trump embodies the faded American dream. He is someone who will do everything to succeed. At first, you find that enchanting, and then as the mask slips, you realise how seductive yet toxic that can make a person. The actor reveals that there’s more to him than just playing supersoldiers, bringing Trump’s magnetism, moral ambiguity, and smooth-talking charm to the forefront, while still maintaining some vulnerability underneath, ensuring he plays a man, not a caricature.
But the film’s backbone is Jeremy Strong as Trump’s mentor (and creator), lawyer Roy Cohn. He gives you the audience’s perspective on Trump’s rise. He meets a young Trump as a ruthless, mean lawyer who is not afraid to get his hands dirty. He takes Trump under his wing but soon realises that the student outdoes the master in terms of ruthlessness and meanness. How easily Jeremy Strong shows us that transformation from Cohn’s eyes is what makes this film so special.
Does The Apprentice do a disservice to Donald Trump? Does it not show ‘his’ side of what went down? Only Trump knows the answer to that. What the film does manage is present a cross-section of the rise of one of the most polarising and powerful figures in modern history. And it does it without any fear, if not dishonesty.
The Apprentice is (finally) streaming in India on Lionsgate Play.
