Sebastian Stanexplains that he did not doActors on Actorsthis year because no other actors would agree to do it with him.Actors on Actorsis aVariety-led talk show where two acclaimed actors sit down to have a conversation with each other. Stan participated in the series two years ago, sitting down in 2022 with Jennifer Aniston.2024 has been a good year forStan’s career, acting in bothA Different ManandThe Apprentice. He has generated praise and awards buzz for both films.
Speaking on a panel for the screening ofThe Apprentice(via@MaggieMinLA), Stan explains why he could not find anyone to doActors on Actorswith him this year. Stan explains thatpeople were “too afraid to go and talk about"The Apprentice, leading him to miss out on hisActors on Actorsopportunity. The actor details that it was not even the actors themselves who refused, but rather, he and his team could not even get past the publicists before being shut down. Stan goes on to speak more broadly about Donald Trump andThe Apprenticefilm itself. Check out the full quote from Stan below:
For instance, I had an offer to do a Variety Actor on Actor this Friday. And I couldn’t find another actor to do it with me, because they were too afraid to go and talk about this movie. So I couldn’t do it. And it doesn’t matter, that’s okay, it’s not to point a finger at anybody, I’ve got to do a lot of great things. It was, we couldn’t get past the publicists, who were the people representing because it was too afraid to talk about this movie. And it’s like, that’s when I think we lose the situation. Because if it really becomes that fear or that discomfort to talk about this, then we’re really going to have a problem.
There was an Op-Ed that came out that I sent to him in New York Times recently that I thought was really interesting. It said we have to stop pretending that Trump is not one of us. And that’s a really difficult thing to deal with at the moment. And I understand the emotions are very high, but I think that’s the only way you’re going to grasp this film. What it’s saying is, you cannot keep casting this person aside, especially after they get the popular vote, should we not give this a closer look and try to understand what it is about this person that’s even driving that. And I don’t know if the love is going to translate into action, but certainly its there from what we’re hearing.
The ApprenticedirectorAli Abbasiacknowledged Stan’s comments on Twitter/X, declaring, “That is what we are up against!” Abbasi has been open about the struggles the movie has faced on its road to release, previously suggesting there were people in Hollywood who didn’t want to release it.
Meanwhile,Paul Walter Hauser, who starred opposite Stan inI, Tonya, also responded on Twitter/X by saying, “I’ll do it?”
What This Means For Sebastian Stan & The Apprentice
The Apprentice Did Not Do Well Theatrically
The Apprenticewas an extremely controversial movie, and there was a time when it didn’t look like the film would hit theaters.Trump himself tried to prevent it from being released, and once it did come up, he referred to it as a “politically disgusting hatchet job.” Still, it is somewhat surprising that this type of controversy would reflect on Hollywood actors, as this group tends to be notably left-leaning in its politics. In Stan’s case, though, the publicists were not able to get past the threat of controversy and let those they represent be involved in conversations aboutThe Apprentice.
The Apprentice Exec Reveals If He Helped “Create A Monster” By Claiming Donald Trump Was A Successful Businessman
The Apprentice helped launch Donald Trump’s campaign for the U.S. presidency. However, a TV executive is coming forward to set the record straight.
This story is unfortunately reflective of how things went forThe Apprenticeoverall. Despite the publicity beforehand,the film underperformed at the box office. Made on an estimated budget of $16 million,The Apprenticeultimately lost money, bringing in just $11.9 million worldwide. So, it seems that as much as actors did not want to talk about this film, audiences also did not have as much of an interest in seeing the movie. This created an additional lack of conversation aroundThe Apprentice, which hurt the movie.
Our Take On Stan’s The Apprentice Experience
This Will Hurt His Oscars Chances
There was a time whenStan’s name was floated in the conversation for a potentialOscar nomination for Best ActorforThe Apprentice. The low box office revenue has already worsened those chances, but stories like these seem to make that prospect even more slim. If publicists do not want actors to even speak about the movie, it begs whether those actors would then vote to nominate something like Stan’s role. With Trump soon to re-enter office again as the 47th President of the United States, any buzz aboutThe Apprenticewould cause more controversy.
