Actor Sebastian Stan has said it will take “two years to get over” playing former US president Donald Trump in The Apprentice.
Speaking to the PA news agency, the Romanian-born American actor likened playing a real-life character to being in a relationship and said learning their “tics” was “like learning an instrument”.
The film, which had a gala screening at the BFI London Film Festival on Tuesday evening, tells the story of Mr Trump’s career as a property businessman in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Apprentice has attracted controversy as it was released on October 11 in the US, before the country goes to the polls in November, where Mr Trump will bid for a second term as president, against current vice-president Kamala Harris.
Speaking at the screening, Stan told PA: “It’s so technical, and when you’re trying to play a real person, you want to get their tics, their mannerisms, their way of speaking, and it’s not natural.
“You just have to kind of practise it like you’re learning an instrument every day more and more, and then eventually you can do it in your sleep.
“I kind of liken it to a relationship (losing a character’s mannerisms) – when you break up with somebody, they say, ‘how long have you been in the relationship?’ And you’re like, ‘two years’, and they’re like, ‘it’s going to take two years to get over it’.”
It comes after the 41-year-old told British GQ he had found it difficult to lose Mr Trump’s mannerisms when reprising his role as Bucky Barnes in a new Marvel film titled Thunderbolts, set for release in May next year.
He told the magazine: ““I went off to Marvel after (The Apprentice) and we were doing scenes, and I would do something, a thing or two, and be like, f***, this is still living somewhere.”
Stan’s co-star Jeremy Strong addressed comments from Mr Trump on his Truth Social social media platform, which called the film “fake and classless” and described those involved as “human scum”.
Strong, 45, who plays Mr Trump’s mentor and lawyer Roy Cohn, told PA: “I honestly didn’t know if he would weigh in on it.
“He used language that he’s been using, but it’s language that references really dark moments in history. The phrase human scum was used by Hitler, and Stalin, and Kim Jong (Un, supreme leader of North Korea), and Bolsonaro, and Putin.
“I find it really unsettling that the presidential candidate in the United States is using phraseology like that and, you know, I feel a bit in the line of fire with this movie, but I think art needs to speak truth to power, and this isn’t a sensationalistic piece.
“It’s an attempt to give a very accurate portrait of him and his relationship with Roy Cohn, which I think it does.”
Maria Bakalova, who plays Ivana Trump in the film, added that its close release date to the US election was “great timing”.
The 28-year-old told PA: “It wasn’t our intention to come out now, you know, we premiered in Cannes back in May, and all of us were hoping to have the movie out as soon as possible.
“Because honestly, I think it’s a good movie, I think it’s a very entertaining look into New York back in the 70s and 80s, with these kind of people.
“So it’s a much bigger picture than just a movie about Trump, and it’s been a bit strange to take a moment (for it) to be released, but it’s great timing, maybe it’s meant to be this way.”
The Apprentice will be released in UK cinemas on October 18.
