"We couldn’t get past the publicists" — When Sebastian Stan revealed why reps were hesitant to interview him

Romanian-American actor Sebastian Stan became a household name for his role as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, starting with the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger, and also featuring in the 2021 Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Besides this role, Stan has proven his acting acumen by playing Tommy Lee in the 2022 Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy, which fetched him nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Sebastian Stan has also appeared in films such as The Martian (2015), Logan Lucky (2017), and Fresh (2022), among others. Furthermore, in 2024, he starred in A Different Man and The Apprentice.

In The Apprentice, released in the US on October 11, Stan plays a young Donald Trump. The film proved controversial upon its release, igniting intense debates ahead of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Elections.

During a screening of the film in Los Angeles in November 2024, Sebastian Stan alleged that he had to face a sort of isolation from others, as people were "too afraid" to talk about the film.

BuzzFeed published a report on November 20, 2024, that carries the actor’s statements, issued during a screening of The Apprentice the previous day, on Tuesday, November 19. Sebastian Stan stated that even though he was invited to Variety’s Actors on Actors series, he had a difficult time finding a partner for the program.

Stan stated:

“I had an offer to do Variety Actors on Actors this Friday, and I couldn’t find another actor to do it with me.”

He went on:

“That’s not pointing at anyone specific; we couldn’t get past the publicists or the people representing them because they were too afraid to talk about this movie.”

According to a report published by Variety on May 20, 2024, Donald Trump’s campaign had been eager to stall the release of the film, with the campaign’s chief spokesperson calling it "garbage" and "pure fiction." Thus, way before its theatrical release date, the biopic directed by Ali Abbasi was embroiled in controversies.

---

Sebastian Stan highlighted the need to talk about the film more

While the I, Tonya star did not point fingers at specific people in his interview, he did mention that the concern that other artists had over discussing the film signaled a problem. He remarked:

“If it really becomes that fear or that discomfort to talk about this, we’re really going to have a problem.”

Sebastian Stan asserted the need to examine the film all the more since its subject was a political figure, who ‘got the popular vote’. He rhetorically asked:

“Should we not give this a closer look and try to understand what it is about this person that’s even driving that?”

Furthermore, People magazine published a report on November 20, 2024, carrying a statement from Variety Co-Editor in Chief Ramin Setoodeh, confirming Sebastian Stan’s account.

“What Sebastian said is accurate. We invited him to participate in Actors on Actors, the biggest franchise of awards season, but other actors didn’t want to pair with him because they didn’t want to talk about Donald Trump,” they stated to the publication.

Variety’s Actors on Actors series has brought several stars together as pairs for engaging conversations about each other's work and the craft of cinema in general. Previous pairs include Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy, Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig, and Jennifer Aniston and Quinta Brunson, among others.

---

What is The Apprentice about?

Directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Gabriel Sherman, the film follows the rise of Donald Trump as a business tycoon and media personality in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s. It also highlights his relationship with his crafty attorney Roy Cohn.

While Sebastian Stan plays Trump in the film, Jeremy Strong of Succession fame portrays Cohn. Meanwhile, the film faced backlash months before its theatrical release. Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s chief spokesperson, told Variety in May 2024:

“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers.”

He went on:

“This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.”

On the other hand, for their performances, Stan and Strong received nominations in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories respectively at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards.

---