One of the most interesting annual awards season video series is Variety’s Actors on Actors. Typically, that’s when two actors, who are both campaigning for awards season trophies, interview each other about their current projects. Though it’s often fun to watch the two talk with each other, it’s never really controversial. Basically, it’s two actors raving about each other for 20-ish minutes. But apparently, if you’re Sebastian Stan, it can be a bit controversial.
READ MORE: ‘The Apprentice’ Review: Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump? It Works! [Cannes]
Speaking at a recent screening for the new film “The Apprentice” (via social media), Sebastian Stan talked about how people are truly scared to talk about his new film. He said he was offered a chance to do Actors on Actors, but there was a huge problem—no one would do it with him. Why would they turn it down? Well, “The Apprentice” is a film about Donald Trump, and considering the results of the election, folks don’t want to discuss Trump in any way. As Stan said, other actors are “too afraid.”
“I had an offer to do Variety’s Actors on Actors 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,” said Stan. “So I couldn’t do it. That’s not to point a finger at anybody… We couldn’t get past the publicist or the people representing them.”
It’s obvious why publicists or representation would turn down a chance to do Actors on Actors with Stan. Talking about Donald Trump, in any way, can lead to a lot of headlines. And during awards season, these people don’t want any controversy. However, even though it makes sense, it doesn’t mean it’s right.
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We’ve seen “The Apprentice” have an uphill battle since the film debuted at this year’s Cannes. It took forever for the film to find U.S. distribution. And eventually, when it was given a release, there was hardly any marketing for the film. It was, effectively, dumped. And that’s a shame, as the film earned solid reviews, currently sitting at 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.
We’ll have to wait and see how Stan is treated with other situations during this awards season. You have to assume it’s going to be an uphill battle for the actor to earn any sort of love from the awards organizations.
Sebastian Stan and Director Ali Abassi attended the #THEAPPRENTICE Screening and #SebastianStan said he was invited to Variety Actor on Actor interview but couldn’t find an actor want to do it with him , because their publicists were hesitated to let them talk about this movie so… pic.twitter.com/cWRvzx0bHF
— MaggieMinLA (@MaggieMinLA) November 19, 2024