Marvel Star Takes on His Heftiest Role As Former President Donald Trump

The key to being a good actor is to take on any character and make the audience believe you are no longer you but that person. And then, just as you have assumed someone else’s persona, the movie ends, and you must find a new project and become yet another person. It must be even more difficult if you are playing a real person and have to take notes from someone as they are standing there watching you.

Actor Sebastian Stan made a name for himself in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing Bucky Barnes, AKA the Winter Soldier, first in Captain America (2011), and then in the Avengers Thanos films. But Stan has also played his fair share of real-life people. In the Oscar-winning movie I, Tonya (2017), he played Tonya Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly. Then he donned a prosthetic and tattoos to play Tommy Lee in the Hulu Original Series Pam and Tommy (2022). But now Stan is about to take on his weightiest role and can expect quite a bit of feedback on his performance.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Stan has signed on to play a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice. Ali Abbasi is set to direct, and Gabriel Sherman will write the script. Abbasi is best known for directing Holy Spider (2022) and two episodes of the HBO series The Last of Us (2023). Sherman wrote the book The Loudest Voice in the Room, which was based on Fox News boss Roger Ailes. It would later be turned into a Showtime miniseries starring Russell Crowe.

Former president Donald Trump will undoubtedly have quite a bit to say about any film about his life. Trump is currently running for the Republican nomination for president. He has a 40 percent lead over Disney’s nemesis, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Trump is also facing 91 felony indictments in four separate cases across the country.

There are very few details about the film. The Hollywood Reporter describes it as “a mentor-protégé narrative that documents the start of an American dynasty and tackles themes including power, corruption and deception.” Jeremey Strong, fresh off his role as Kendall Roy in Succession, and Maria Bakalova will co-star with Stan.

Besides his turn as the former president, Sebastian Stan will be a busy man. He has two movies coming out in 2025 for the Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios. After Stan starred in the Disney Plus show, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier with Anthony Mackie, the duo will return in Captain America: Brave New World. Stan is also rumored to make an appearance in Marvel’s Thunderbolts. 

Both of Stan’s Marvel films were slatted for 2024, but in a dramatic shakeup, Disney Studios delayed both movies until 2025.

The storyline of The Apprentice will be interesting, as it will include his early years with ex-wife Ivana Trump and attorney Roy Cohn, Donald Trump’s early mentor. But the Ali Abbasi-directed film should be interesting, and its subject will surely have some things to say about it.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.