In Ali Abbasi’s film “The Apprentice,” Sebastian Stan portrays a young Donald Trump, who undergoes a hair transplant and liposuction to combat his baldness and weight gain. The movie charts Trump’s journey from a local real estate developer in the 1970s to a national celebrity by the 1980s, with guidance from the unscrupulous political fixer Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong.
The transformation of Stan into Trump was a collaborative effort led by hair department head Michelle Cote and prosthetics specialists Sean Sansom and Brandi Boulet. As the film progresses, viewers witness Trump’s physical decline, characterized by hair loss and weight gain. This prompts him to use amphetamines for weight control, though these efforts prove ineffective.
To accurately reflect Trump’s body changes, Stan gained 15 pounds for the role. The costume department also designed a padded suit with a prosthetic belly. Boulet explained, “For scenes where his shirt was off or his robe was open, we’d attach the fake piece to him.” They referred to the prosthetic abdomen look as “Pills Donny,” capturing Trump’s disheveled appearance during this period. Boulet shared, “I enjoyed creating the fake belly because it represented him as red, blotchy, always eating, and sweaty.”
As Trump deals with hair loss and weight gain, he turns to plastic surgery. For the hair transplant scene, Sansom detailed their process, stating, “We used the top of a fake head with a scalp. Michelle had a toupee with a section cut away where the scalp would be removed. The hair was punched in one strand at a time, rigged with a bloodline, and the scalpel had a bloodline on it too. We filmed this all in one day.”
In the film’s opening, audiences see a younger version of Trump, so Boulet used prosthetic lifts to tighten Stan’s face, pulling up his cheeks and eyes. She noted, “For his skin tone, we made him slightly lighter than the classic orange hue seen later.” Cote also provided Stan with a blonder wig featuring medium sideburns to reflect Trump’s early style, which changed over time as his eyebrows, hair, and skin tone evolved. Cote explained, “His hair was golden when he was younger, due to more time spent outside, and it lost its highlights as he aged.”
To depict Trump’s aging, Boulet adjusted Stan’s lift pieces lower on his face. Cheek plumpers were added to soften his chiseled features, and Sansom described using an upper dental plate that did not cover Stan’s teeth to enhance the characteristic look of Trump’s mouth area.
The team faced challenges with Stan’s facial hair. Since the filming days were long, Stan’s five o’clock shadow required regular touch-ups to maintain continuity. “He starts to grow facial hair the moment he shaves,” Boulet said. “We had to blend the prosthetics carefully to cover this.”
Makeup artist Colin Penman recalled being enthralled by Stan’s performance, especially during the recreation of the 1988 Oprah Winfrey interview with Maria Bakalova, who plays Ivana Trump. “I knew we had something special because we aimed to be realistic, not parodic,” he said.
Beyond gaining weight, Stan came prepared to embody the essence of Trump. Sansom noted, “The production team compiled a large file of reference videos and photos for everyone to use. We aimed to reproduce these images as closely as possible.” Boulet added, “Sebastian was dedicated. His phone was filled with research, and he would study videos every morning before filming.”
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