Jeremy Strong Welcomes Criticism of Role in Controversial Donald Trump Film
Succession star Jeremy Strong has welcomed criticism of his role in the controversial new Donald Trump biopic, The Apprentice.Strong addressed the discourse surrounding straight actors portraying LGBTQ+ roles, describing it as "absolutely valid."The Apprentice stars Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, once Trump's lawyer and political fixer.
It focuses on his time working in real estate, and his rise to power in America, and also charts his relationship with his first with, Ivana Trump, played by Maria Bakalova, and it features Trump family patriarch Fred Trump, played by Martin Donovan.The movie includes a number of controversial scenes, including one that depicts Trump raping his then-wife, Ivana, during an argument.
In her 1990 divorce deposition, Ivana Trump alleged she was sexually assaulted by her husband, but she disavowed the allegation when Trump was running for president in 2015.
Ivana Trump died in 2022.The former president's legal team has attempted to block the release of the film, which received an eight-minute standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival debut.On May 24, Trump's attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter to the filmmakers as they sought to block the release and marketing of the film, as per Variety.Speaking to the Los Angeles Times about his role in the film, Strong was asked if he believes there is any merit to criticism leveled at straight actors for playing gay characters and receiving critical acclaim for this."It's absolutely valid," Strong responded. "I'm sort of old fashioned, maybe, in the belief that fundamentally, it's [about] a person's artistry."That's your job as an actor.
