Sebastian Stan will play a younger Donald Trump in a new movie.
‘The Apprentice’ will also feature Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova.
Iranian director Ali Abasi is behind the movie, which has started shooting.
While he became well known for playing James “Bucky” Barnes AKA The Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sebastian Stan has carved out a niche playing real-life people, including Tommy Lee in ‘Pam & Tommy’, Robinhood Markets CEO Vladimir Tenev in ‘Dumb Money’ and Jeff Gilooly, who was married to skater Tonya Harding in ‘I, Tonya’.
But his latest role will raise eyebrows higher than most –– he’s on board to play a younger Donald Trump in a new movie called ‘ The Apprentice’. But though it has the name of the TV series that first brought Trump to national attention, it appears to take place before he gets that gig, and long before his Presidential term.
Former President Donald Trump on ‘Meet The Press.’ Copyright: 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC.
‘The Apprentice’ is billed as an exploration of power and ambition, set in a world of corruption and deceit, and will examine Trump’s efforts to build his real estate business in New York in the ’70s and ’80s, also digging into his relationship with infamous attorney Roy Cohn.
It’s a mentor-protege story that charts the origins of a major American dynasty. Filled with larger than life characters, it reveals the moral and human cost of a culture defined by winners and losers.
Who else will star in ‘The Apprentice’?
(L to R) Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, and Kieran Culkin in season 4 of HBO’s ‘Succession.’ Photograph by Claudette Barius/HBO.
Deadline reports that ‘Succession’ actor Jeremy Strong will be heading back into the world of rich New York types (albeit real ones this one) to play the role of Cohn.
Maria Bakalova, meanwhile, who broke out in ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ and most recently was heard voicing Cosmo in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’, is on board to play Ivana, Trump’s first wife (who, it’s worth noting, died last year and is buried in, of all places, Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey).
Who is making ‘The Apprentice’?
HBO Max’s ‘The Last of Us.’ Photo: Warner Media.
This new movie comes from Iranian director Ali Abbasi, who has made films including ‘Holy Spider’ and ‘Border’ and who shot two episodes of HBO’s acclaimed video game adaptation ‘The Last of Us’.
In theaters everywhere on September 29th, ‘Dumb Money’ is a funny, sharp satire of the GameStop stock story, which had people gripped in early 2021.
Following what happened when “retail investors” seized upon the idea of driving up the value of the games store and Wall Street’s reaction, it’s an entertaining true account of one of the most fascinating financial stories of the last decade.
‘Dumb Money’ is the ultimate David vs. Goliath tale, based on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (yes, the mall videogame store) into the world’s hottest company.
In the middle of everything is regular guy Keith Gill (Paul Dano), who starts it all by sinking his life savings into the stock and posting about it.
When his social posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich –– until the billionaires fight back, and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.
In some ways, ‘Dumb Money’ feels like a companion piece to Hulu’s ‘Pam & Tommy’ from earlier this year, though that might primarily be thanks to the presence of Rogen, Offerman and Stan in front of the camera, and director Craig Gillespie behind it (Gillespie was a producer and director for the series).
But in several ways, it is much better than that show, since it chronicles a subject that doesn’t haven’t such personal, painful ramifications as for Pamela Anderson. It also tells its story in more compact form.
Gillespie, here working from a script by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo (who first met as reporters on the Wall Street Journal and have several TV series under their combined belts, and adapted Ben Mezrich’s book ‘The Antisocial Network’), dials down on what really made the Gamestop stop impactful, as well as drawing out real laughs from certain moments.
A big positive for the movie was widening the scope beyond the story of Keith Gill and the billionaires whose world he disrupted with his YouTube channel and Reddit posts.
Smaller personal stories such as those of GameStop employee Marcus, college students Riri (Herrold) and Harmony (Ryder) and nurse Jenny (Ferrera), help to explain the central narrative while letting the solid performers (Ferrera is especially good, and between this and ‘Barbie’ it proves she deserves many more opportunities to shine).
Which is not to say that Dano isn’t fantastic as Keith, who posts under the name “Roaring Kitty” and is using his financial analyst smarts to advise others and take big share bets himself. As his on-screen fortune (and infamy grow), Dano and co-star Woodley (as his wife, Caroline), offer up a compelling portrait of a couple confronting an outrageous situation.
On the hedge fund side, Rogen is particularly good as Gabe Plotkin, who has risen from humble beginnings to run a hedge fun dealing in the billions. He’s certainly let the power that money has brought go to his head and is introduced yelling on the phone at a realtor representing a fancy house he wants to buy simply to tear down so he can build a tennis court to use during the pandemic.
Elsewhere, Offerman is typically funny and gruff as the even wealthier Ken Griffin, who smugly dines on incredibly rare food at exclusive restaurants and offers to help Gabe out when he gets into trouble, only to find himself in corporate hot water when his company works with the startup that lets ordinary people buy shares without commission.
The whole thing is told with verve, energy and humanity, and marks it out as one of the most impressive examples of the social comedy form to happen along since Adam McKay switched from the goofy likes of ‘Anchorman’ to his own sharpened satires.
And perhaps the biggest recommendation I can make about the movie is that it uses Pete Davidson in a way that is not completely annoying. Playing Keith’s boisterous slacker brother, Davidson’s particular energy is on display in a useful, fitting way. Give it an Oscar for that alone!
‘Dumb Money’ does take its time at first to set its scene, occasionally falling into the trap of repeating information. It might have you checking your watch initially. But that setup is necessary to set the scene –– somehow it doesn’t have the same energy as the rest of the movie.
Likewise, were it not for the fact that they are real people, the likes of Gabe, Ken and fellow rich type Steve Cohen (D’Onofrio) would come across as cartoon characters in a fictional film. Here, they are all too terrifyingly confident in their ability to stop the “dumb money” amateur investors.
As with most true stories of this kind, there is a certain dose of cold water awaiting you by the end –– despite the movie’s claim that the GameStop situation changed Wall Street’s way of doing business for the better, you’re left with the lingering feeling that we’re just counting down to the next financial scandal as the division between rich and poor grows.
That, though, is more to do with the real world than the movie’s story.
If you’re fascinated by how the “little people” can get on over on the rich types (at least for a while) and want to watch it happen in entertaining and clever fashion, ‘Dumb Money’ is well worth a bet at the theater.
The ongoing strike, which sees writers taking industrial action for a fairer deal from the studios, is starting to have more and more impact on movies and TV series.
Most of the main networks have indicated that they’re planning to change their fall schedules to favor reality, other unscripted series and reruns because of the lack of new scripts. Much of their scripted output has been moved to mid-season and other changes are on the way. During the most recent strike, in 2007-2008, US screens saw a rebounded era of reality television, which doesn’t require union writers.
Even Marvel is not safe from delays and issues with its shows and movies. The company recently hit pause on ‘Daredevil: Born Again’, had had been in the midst of a lengthy shoot in New York, while ‘Wonder Man’ shut down also. And it faced another delay on ‘Blade’, which had already been through its share of problems, including a director switch and script re-writes. But with no work allowed on the screenplay, production will have to wait.
‘Blade’ is not the only movie facing delays –– according to Deadline, ‘Thunderbolts’, the company’s anti-hero adventure, which was due to kick off filming in Atlanta in three weeks, is also shutting down until a deal is reached and the strike ends.
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Who is in the Thunderbolts movie?
We know (most of) the characters who will be showing up, since they were announced last year at Disney’s D23 event: Bucky Barnes (formerly The Winter Soldier), played by Sebastian Stan, is a key figure alongside Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Olga Kurylenko’s Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster and David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, those three having been introduced in ‘Black Widow’.
Then there’s John Walker, AKA US Agent, played by Wyatt Russell and first seen in ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ and Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr, the phasing character known as Ghost, who debuted in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’.
Marvel is far from the only company with projects seeing delays. Lionsgate stopped work on Aziz Ansari’s new film, ‘Good Fortune’, which has Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen in its cast. It’s the latest blow to Ansari’s directorial career, which had seen previous effort ‘Being Mortal’ curtailed following claims of inappropriate behavior on the part of star Bill Murray.
The series was scheduled to shoot in Northern Ireland, but the strike means that it’s also been delayed.
Here’s what the country’s film had to say on the matter:
“Northern Ireland Screen is extremely disappointed that ‘Blade Runner 2099’ is not going ahead at this time due to the ongoing writers’ strike. The project has been prepping on the ground in Belfast for many months now. The WGA strike has been halting production all over the world and we hope a fair deal is reached soon so crew can get back to work.”
1982’s ‘Blade Runner’ Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
If the delay is significant, it’s likely to shift the show’s production back until next spring, a significant postponement. Silka Luisa, showrunner of Apple TV+’s ‘Shining Girls’, is writing and executive producing ‘Blade Runner 2099,’ which comes from Alcon Entertainment and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions (Scott, of course, directed the original movie and has been involved in the franchise ever since).
In the wider world, we know that the likes of ‘Stranger Things’, ‘Cobra Kai’, ‘The Last of Us’, ‘Loot’ and ‘Abbott Elementary’ are among the big-name series seeing the impact, but while those will be later arriving, viewers are already seeing the impact, as the late-night shows, such as those hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert are on indefinite hiatus and ‘Saturday Night Live’ has curtailed its season.
As mentioned, it will be a while before we see the total fallout of the strike, since some shows, including ‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘Good Omens’ have second seasons that were finished before the strike began.
Some companies and networks –– especially the CW, though that appears to have been its policy even before the strike –– are looking to shows produced outside of the States to fill gaps and help maintain viewers.
And there will be a full program of movies for at least the next year and likely into 2024 as many productions were at least wrapped or in post-production.
It is also an issue for companies looking to promote their work, either for upcoming releases or (in the case of TV shows) awards consideration, as talent is skipping interviews and events in solidarity with the writers.
Finally, there is more trouble for studios on the horizon since the Directors Guild and SAG-AFTRA, which represents actors, still have to work out their contracts and their members have already been showing their support for their fellow creatives on strike lines.
David Harbour from ‘Thunderbolts’ at D23 Expo 2022.
(Left) Sebastian Stan at D23 2022, (Center) Director Paul Feig at the premiere of ‘The School for Good and Evil,’ (Right) Maria Bakalova in ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies.’
Given that comedy director Paul Feig had a big success with 2015’s Melissa McCarthy comedy ‘Spy’, which earned more than $235 million worldwide, it’s understandable that he might be tempted by a new film looking to combine laughs and espionage.
Which is good news for an untitled spy comedy in development at Paramount, which already has some potential casting in place –– as MCU stalwart Sebastian Stan and ‘Borat’ sequel star Maria Bakalova –– are attached to star.
Jenny Bicks, whose comedy series ‘Welcome to Flatch’ is produced by Feig (and returns for a second season this fall) has been hired to write the script.
(L to R) Laurie Feig and Paul Feig attend the World Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘The School For Good And Evil’ at Regency Village Theatre on October 18, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.
What’s the story of this new spy movie?
Details are scarce on this one, but according to Deadline, the concept originally appeared in a pitch to the studio about a failed double agent who becomes an unlikely success. Whether the agent would be played by Stan, Bakalova or someone else remains to be seen.
And though you could conceivably see this as a way for Feig to finally realize the long-rumored sequel to ‘Spy’, it’s more likely the new movie is entirely unconnected, especially since that film was produced by the pre-Disney 20th Century Fox. And if Feig and co. were going to revisit it, you’ve got to figure the announcement would not be wrapped in such secrecy.
If the spy comedy does end up in production, Feig will produce the movie as well as direct it, with Stan also producing.
If it all comes together, this new spy movie could be fun: Stan certainly has action chops and has also proved he can do comedy of different flavors in ‘Fresh’, ‘I, Tonya’ and his quippy back-and-forths with Anthony Mackie in his Marvel appearances. Bakalova, meanwhile, broke out in ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ and has since cropped up in the likes of ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’, ‘The Bubble’ and the upcoming ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’, in which she voices Cosmo the Space Dog (that will be in theaters on May 5th).
Bicks has also written for shows such as ‘Sex and the City’, ‘Divorce’ and ‘The Big C’, while on the film front, she’s scripted movies including ‘The Greatest Showman’ and ‘Rio 2’.
Feig most recently released ‘The School for Good and Evil’, which debuted on Netflix and debuted top of the streaming service’s charts despite some very mixed reviews. He’s currently shooting ‘Grand Death Lotto’ a dystopian action comedy about a California lottery where the winner can legally be hunted down by other citizens, who can claim the prize should they kill the winner.
Awkwafina is starring as the current winner, who has to go on the run, with John Cena and Simu Liu as private bodyguards vying to keep her safe. It should be in theaters next year.
(L to R) Sacha Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova in ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.’
Steven Yeun’s career has been on a roll lately, and ever since leaving ‘The Walking Dead’, he’s been enjoying plenty of success on screens big and small. He was Oscar nominated for 2020 family drama ‘Minari’ and last summer appeared in Jordan Peele’s hit horror/sci-fi thriller ‘Nope’.
It was, perhaps, only a matter of time until he caught Marvel’s attention, and he’s now been cast in ‘Thunderbolts’. The movie has Jake Schreier directing and ‘Black Widow’s Eric Pearson writing the script.
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Just who are the ‘Thunderbolts?’
It isn’t an exact match, but the simple way of explaining the Thunderbolts is that they’re Marvel’s version of The Suicide Squad: a group of villains –– or at least anti-heroes –– brought together by third-party schemers in a possibly ill-advised attempt to turn them into a force for good.
In Marvel’s case, they were originally assembled by Baron Zemo and the Masters Of Evil and have sometimes been linked to Hulk regular General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross (hence the name). They made their debut in the pages of ‘The Incredible Hulk’ in 1996, introduced by writer and artist team Peter David and Mike Deodato. They continued to their own series the same year, created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, and have been brought back with a bunch of alternative line-ups in comics ever since.
David Harbour from ‘Thunderbolts’ at D23 Expo 2022.
We know (most of) the characters who will be showing up, since they were announced last year at Disney’s D23 event: Bucky Barnes (formerly The Winter Soldier), played by Sebastian Stan, is a key figure alongside Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Olga Kurylenko’s Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster and David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, those three having been introduced in ‘Black Widow’.
Then there’s John Walker, AKA US Agent, played by Wyatt Russell and first seen in ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ and Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr, the phasing character known as Ghost, who debuted in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’.
As for those overseeing the team, we have Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, AKA Val, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was also introduced in the ‘Falcon’ series and has since cropped up in the likes of ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. We also have Thaddeus Ross––last seen in ‘Black Widow’ and played since ‘The Incredible Hulk’ by William Hurt. But because of the actor’s death last year, Marvel has had to recast the role, tapping genre icon Harrison Ford to take over. Ross is reportedly the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s current President of the US (at least in ‘Captain America: New World Order’) so that’ll likely factor in.
As for Yeun, Marvel has yet to say –– and Deadline couldn’t dig up –– what part he’s playing, but he’s apparently a key figure in this movie, one who could well end up recurring in the MCU.
‘Thunderbolts’ is scheduled to land in theaters on July 26th next year.
Ayo Edebiri has gained a lot of attention lately for her role as driven chef Sydney Adamu in FX’s ‘The Bear’, for which she has been nominated for several awards and won some trophies.
Which has led to her getting a call from the Marvel team, and now Deadline reports that Edebiri has been recruited for the ‘Thunderbolts’ cast.
Ayo Edebiri from ‘The Bear.’ Photo courtesy of FX.
It isn’t an exact match, but the simple way of explaining the Thunderbolts is that they’re Marvel’s version of The Suicide Squad: a group of villains––or at least anti-heroes––brought together by third-party schemers in a possibly ill-advised attempt to turn them into a force for good.
In Marvel’s case, they were originally assembled by Baron Zemo and the Masters Of Evil and have sometimes been linked to Hulk regular General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross (hence the name). They made their debut in the pages of ‘The Incredible Hulk’ in 1996, introduced by writer and artist team Peter David and Mike Deodato. They continued to their own series the same year, created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, and have been brought back with a bunch of alternative line-ups in comics ever since.
Sebastian Stan from ‘Thunderbolts’ at D23 Expo 2022.
For the movie we know (most of) the characters who will be showing up: Bucky Barnes (formerly The Winter Soldier), played by Sebastian Stan, is a key figure alongside Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Olga Kurylenko’s Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster and David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, those three having been introduced in ‘Black Widow’.
Then there’s John Walker, AKA US Agent, played by Wyatt Russell and first seen in ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ and Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr, the phasing character known as Ghost, who debuted in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’.
Wyatt Russell from ‘Thunderbolts’ at D23 Expo 2022.
As for those overseeing the team, we have Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, AKA Val, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was also introduced in the ‘Falcon’ series and has since cropped up in the likes of ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. We also have Thaddeus Ross––last seen in ‘Black Widow’ and played since ‘The Incredible Hulk’ by William Hurt. But because of the actor’s death last year, Marvel has had to recast the role, tapping genre icon Harrison Ford to take over. It’s unknown what position Ross will have in the new movie––the former General was Secretary of State in ‘Captain America: Civil War’.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus from ‘Thunderbolts’ at D23 Expo 2022.
Given Marvel’s typical shroud of secrecy, nothing is yet known about how Edebiri will fit into the story or what character she’s playing. She could be a character drawn from the comics, but even if that’s the case, her backstory could be changed for the film’s story.
So far, all that is really confirmed about the film beyond the main cast is the presence of ‘Paper Towns’ and ‘Robot and Frank’ director Jake Schreier and ‘Black Widow’ writer Eric Pearson providing the script.
‘Thunderbolts’ will be in theaters on July 26th next year.
David Harbour from ‘Thunderbolts’ at D23 Expo 2022.
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As Marvel moves on through its next phases, the shape of a potential Avengers team is beginning to become clearer.
We’ve known for a while that Anthony Mackie’s Sam “Falcon” Wilson will be back on the big screen, this time in the guise of Captain America. And the movie has found its director for ‘Captain America 4‘ in Julius Onah, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The handover, of course, first occurred at the end of ‘Avengers Endgame’, where Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers arrived back from his trip to return the Infinity Stones to their rightful place in time, having decided to live a full life instead of using the quantum time-jumping system.
An elderly Steve hands a version of his iconic shield off to Sam, who is unsure whether he’s worthy. Asked how it feels, he replies, “Like it’s someone else’s”. “It isn’t,” says Rogers.
Yet it would take a lot more wrangling for Sam to finally feel ready to wield the shield and assume the mantle of Cap, an internal – and external – debate chronicled in Marvel’s Disney+ series ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’.
That show saw Sam and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) dealing with a variety of threats (including an out of control US Agent, played by Wyatt Russell, who was initially crowned Cap’s replacement by the American government) but ultimately ended with Sam suiting up as the new Captain America.
And the connective tissue between the show and the new movie doesn’t end there, as Malcolm Spellman, head writer for the series, is at work on the film’s script alongside Dalan Musson, who was on his writing staff.
Onah, born in Nigeria, but a world traveller thanks to his diplomat father, made waves with impressive shorts produced while at NYU, and his film school thesis attracted Spike Lee as an executive producer.
Though the movie itself didn’t exactly soar – Paramount sold it off to Netflix – and the reviews weren’t great, but Onah has since made more well-received movies including 2015’s ‘The Girl is in Trouble’ and 2019’s ‘Luce’.
The latter movie premiered to acclaim at that year’s Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for several awards. That, combined with his experience handling effects, no doubt contributed to Marvel’s hiring him.
Marvel Studios (and boss Kevin Feige) have a history of hiring filmmakers who have largely worked in indie movies, finding success with the likes of the Russobrothers, who have handled the last few ‘Captain America’ movies and the two gigantic ‘Avengers’ films, ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame’.
Onah stepping aboard means the movie is moving forward, so we’ll be interested to see who joins the cast. Evans seems unlikely, since he’s said he’s not looking to return, but we figure Stan will show up as Bucky.
As of yet, the movie doesn’t have an announced release date.
Marvel recently tapped Kari Skogland (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) to direct from a script by Malcolm Spellman (“Empire”). It’s unclear if Kolstad is joining a writers’ room or if he’s been hired to pen scripts on his own. He certainly has a knack for writing explosive action sequences, as evidenced in the blockbuster “John Wick” series.
As for “Falcon and Winter Soldier,” not much is known about the plot. It’s possible that it will follow Sam Wilson taking on the mantle of Captain America. At the end of “Avengers: Endgame,” the elderly Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) gave Sam his shield.
“The Devil All the Time” is based on Donald Ray Polluck’s 2011 novel of the same name. The story centers on a man named Arvin Russell, following him from childhood to adulthood, as he encounters serial killers, corrupt law enforcement, and other unusual characters. Antonio Campos is directing the film from a script he adapted with Paulo Campos.
In addition to his work in several MCU films, Stan has starred in movies such as 2018’s “Destroyer,” 2017’s “I, Tonya,” and 2015’s “The Martian.” Some of his upcoming films include “The Last Full Measure,” “Monday,” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
“The Devil All the Time” is being produced by Randall Poster, Max Born, and Nine Stories’ Jake Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker. Anne Marter and Jacob Jaffke are executive producing. The film does not yet have a release date.
