The Year of Actor Sebastian Stan (‘The Apprentice’)

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Actor Sebastian Stan has built a career out of shapeshifting.

Today, he joins us to discuss the process of transforming into Donald J. Trump in The Apprentice (7:30), his personal relationship to the American dream (14:00), and the extensive research that went into recreating 1970s-1980s New York City in the film (15:44). Then, we unpack Sebastian’s Romanian upbringing (30:48), the gift of his unconventional, nomadic childhood (37:00), and what the film represents in this post-Election moment (41:00).

On the back-half, we talk about the impact of the late director Jonathan Demme (54:00), Stan’s radical and stunning work in A Different Man (1:00:00), what both of his new films reveal about reality (1:06:00), and what the silencing of The Apprentice—and his Actors on Actors shutout—reveals about the entertainment industry (1:14:00). To close, a reflection about control and how Sebastian embraces everyday life (1:18:00).

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