Romanian-born actor Sebastian Stan portrays young Donald Trump in new film set to premiere at Cannes

Sebastian Stan, the Romanian-born actor most famous for starring in the Avengers movies, plays a young Donald Trump in “The Apprentice” biopic.

Ali Abbasi's film was announced as part of the 2024 Cannes main competition. It follows Trump’s ascent to power through what is described as a “Faustian deal” with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn, portrayed by Jeremy Strong.

“The hot button film, written by Gabe Sherman and likely to cause a stir on both sides of the political fence, also stars Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump and Martin Donovan as Fred Trump,” according to a piece in Variety.

Producers include Daniel Bekerman for Scythia Films (Canada), Jacob Jarek for Profile Pictures (Denmark), Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde for Tailored Films (Ireland), Abbasi and Louis Tisne for Film Institute (Denmark). Executive producers are Amy Baer, Mark H. Rapaport, Emanuel Nunez, Josh Marks, Grant S. Johnson, Phil Hunt and Compton Ross, Thorsten Schumacher, Niamh Fagan, Gabe Sherman, Lee Broda, James Shani, Greg Denny and Andrew Frank.

Donald Trump started his career in the late 1960s as an employee for his father's real estate company, Trump Management. He renamed it the Trump Organization and became president of the company in 1971, moving to high-end projects in Manhattan, including erecting the famous Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue and other Trump-branded properties in Mumbai, Istanbul, and beyond. He started developing casinos in the 1980s, according to Forbes.

“The Apprentice” will be in the competition for the Palme d’Or at next month’s Cannes. Also in the running are Francis Ford Coppola’s 20-years-in-the-works magnum opus “Megalopolis” starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne and Shia LaBeouf, but also “Kinds of Kindness” (Yorgos Lanthimos), “Oh Canada” (Paul Schrader), “Emilia Perez” (Jacques Audiard), “Parthenope” (Paolo Sorrentino), and “The Shrouds” (David Cronenberg).

(Photo source: DiscussingFilm on X)