Actor Sebastian Stan used a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday to deliver a pointed rebuke of President Trump, saying the current political climate is “not a laughing matter” — two years after his Trump biopic first premiered at the same festival.
Mr. Stan, 43, was attending Cannes to promote his new film “Fjord” when a journalist asked how his understanding of Trump had changed since “The Apprentice” debuted on the Croisette ahead of the 2024 election. The question drew laughter from the press room. Stan did not join in.
“It’s just not a laughing matter, to be honest. It isn’t,” the Romanian-born actor said, according to Variety. “I think we’re in a really, really bad place. I really do.”
Mr. Stan went on to cite what he described as consolidation of media, censorship and legal threats as warning signs he said he witnessed firsthand while making “The Apprentice.” “The supposed lawsuits that seemingly never end but don’t actually go anywhere — the writing was on the wall,” he said. “We encountered that with the movie.”
The Hollywood Reporter reported that Mr. Stan told the press conference he is “still purging” from the role. He recalled that just days before the 2024 Cannes festival, the production was uncertain whether “The Apprentice” would be permitted to screen at all. “Three days before the festival, we were unsure if the movie was going to play,” he said. “We went through all of it right before Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. I wish it wasn’t like that.”
Mr. Trump had previously threatened to sue the film’s producers over a scene depicting him raping his then-wife, Ivana Trump, and sent a cease-and-desist letter in an attempt to block its U.S. release. The film ultimately opened in October 2024, grossing $17 million worldwide against a $16 million budget, per Deadline.
Mr. Stan’s return to Cannes comes under starkly different circumstances. “Fjord,” directed by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu and co-starring Renate Reinsve, received a nearly 10-minute standing ovation at its Monday night premiere and is considered a front-runner for the Palme d’Or. The film follows a devout Romanian Christian family whose children are removed by Norwegian child protective services after bruises are found on one of the children, sparking a clash between religious tradition and progressive state intervention.
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