Director Ali Abbasi initially considered casting a woman to portray a young Donald Trump in his film The Apprentice: An American Horror Story. He believed a female actor could capture Trump’s unique body language and add an awkward, offbeat element to the role.
Abbasi explained that his reasoning was to play with Trump’s body language, which he felt had an “awkward and off” quality. The filmmaker even approached renowned actress Cate Blanchett for advice, inspired by her successful portrayal of Bob Dylan.
While experimenting with the concept, Abbasi worked with his prosthetics team to analyze how different actresses could physically embody Trump. However, after conducting voice tests, Abbasi felt the concept risked becoming gimmicky, shifting the focus away from the film’s deeper themes.
Ultimately, Abbasi selected Sebastian Stan to play Trump, believing that casting a male actor would better align with his goal of humanizing the character and capturing the complexity of Trump’s early career. The movie depicts Trump’s rise in the New York real estate scene during the 1970s and 1980s with the help of lawyer Roy Cohn.
The Apprentice: An American Horror Story premieres on October 11 across the U.S.
