The Apprentice is the biopic Donald Trump doesn’t want people to see, covering his early years in business and his relationship with controversial lawyer Roy Cohn.
The former US President has even come out swinging and publicly slammed the unauthorised film, starring Sebastian Stan as him through the 1970s and ’80s.
But actor Jeremy Strong, who plays Cohn, tells 9honey Celebrity he wasn’t worried about Trump fanatics and how they might attack him personally.
READ MORE: Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show returns after six years
“I approached this as a film, as a piece of creative work, I wasn’t thinking about the political arena,” he says on the red carpet at the film’s London Film Festival premiere.
“I mean, I am now [thinking of politics], because we find ourselves sort of in the crosshairs of a lot of hatred and derision.
“As an actor, it’s a wonderful challenge and a great limb to walk out on [but] as a citizen of the world, yeah, it’s very loaded right now, but I think art has a role to play.”
The Succession star is no stranger to playing powerful roles – taking home an Emmy for his role as Kendall Roy on the hit TV drama, which is loosely based on the Murdoch family.
READ MORE: Hollywood actress praises Liam Hemsworth over intimate scenes
“Storytelling has a really vital role to play, of speaking truth to power and of reflecting ourselves to ourselves, and holding the mirror up to nature,” Strong tells 9honey Celebrity.
“I think it’s essential viewing for anyone who cares about the state of the world and this election.”
It’s something director Ali Abbasi agrees with.
The Iranian-Danish filmmaker also believes Trump meeting Cohn changed his life’s trajectory and made him the person he is today.
“This is a part where he was young and he was not like the person we know him today and it’s fun to see that transformation to the person he became,” Abbasi tells 9honey Celebrity on the red carpet.
“I think [from Cohn is] where the political person, Donald Trump, as we know him, got his ambition and got his ideas, got his training.”
Stan’s portrayal of Trump is uncanny, with Abbasi praising the actor for his “ability to go under the skin of some very flawed character and make him human”.
The Marvel star tells 9honey Celebrity is was day one on set that every changed for him and Sebastian disappeared into Donald.
“I think the first day of shooting, was a really revelatory day, revealing day, because everything was just there and then you go from that,” he explains.
For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.
But it wasn’t just the physical transformation Stan had to undergo – he wanted to see Trump from a different perspective.
“I didn’t come in there with any preconceived ideas, I learned everything,” he said.
“I really went in there objectively, I really tried to find everything I could find – the good the bad and the ugly.”
For Maria Bakalova, who plays Donald’s first wife Ivana Trump, she tells 9honey Celebrity, she has a new appreciation for the woman who was “so much ahead of her time”.
“It’s so remarkable that in the ’70s, a girl grew up in Czechoslovakia, communistic Czechoslovakia, taught herself to be outspoken and to be bold and to be daring, to take a leap of faith, jump, try new things, and demand to be seen by her brains, not by her looks,” she says.
But Bakalova admits she struggled to know Ivana with the lack of footage of her from the time.
“We have a lot of beautiful pictures because she’s been a good, talented model, but we don’t see her speak or behave in a certain way,” the actress tells 9honey Celebrity.
“So it’s all created by what she wrote about herself – and is this completely true? Is that how she wanted to be seen? Who knows, but it’s been helpful to see her mannerisms [in later footage].
The Apprentice is out in cinemas across Australia now.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.