@The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi started production this week on The Apprentice, a new film about the controversial rise of the Trump organization in the 1980s. In an exclusive report, Deadline said on Wednesday that Sebastian Stan has been tapped to play the role of the young Donald, with Jeremy Strong cast as the notorious Roy Cohn and Maria Baklova as Trump’s first wife Ivana.
Abbasi’s most recent film was Holy Spider, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022. He also directed two episodes of The Last Of Us, an acclaimed video-game adaptation for HBO.
The screenwriter for The Apprentice is Gabriel Sherman, author of the best-selling The Loudest Voice in the Room, which was dramatized on Showtime in The Loudest Voice, with Russell Crowe starring in the role of Fox News mogul Roger Ailes.
In his Deadline scoop, Matt Grobar wrote that Abassi’s film is “a mentor-protege story that charts the origins of a major American dynasty,” one that is “filled with larger than life characters [revealing] the moral and human cost of a culture defined by winners and losers.”
The Apprentice is sure to be noticed as the former President faces charges of fraud and corruption in a number of venues, all while seeking the Republican nomination for another term in the Oval—or is it Offal?—Office.
Sebastian Stan is noted for his roles in the Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy and in various offerings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He played the character of Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier in such films as Captain America: The First Avenger, and will also be seen in the upcoming Thunderbolts. Stan also drew critical acclaim for his performances in Dumb Money and I, Tonya. He will soon appear in A24’s thriller A Different Man, starring opposite Reinate Reinsve.
Jeremy Strong won Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe awards for his performances in Succession, the HBO dramatic series. Other credits include appearances in James Gray’s Armageddon Time, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen. Strong is also slated to appear in the spring of 2024 in a limited-run Broadway adaptation of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People.
The Bulgarian-born Maria Baklova, nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, has also appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Bodies Bodies Bodies. She stars opposite Emilia Jones and Scoot McNairy in Fairyland, which had its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Baklova will also appear in several films now under development, including O Horizon and Unfrosted.