Even Cold-blooded Bucky Barnes Will Wince At the Reality of Sebastian Stan’s Weight Gain For Donald Trump Biopic ‘The Apprentice’
- Sebastian Stan has been playing Bucky Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2011.
- Stan gained a huge amount of weight to shed away his superhero image and become Donlad Trump.
- The I, Tonya actor also had to change his speech to perfect his performance of the former US president in The Apprentice.
Imagine Bucky Barnes with a fuller and rounder belly instead of the six-pack body that we all have grown accustomed to seeing. It is certainly not the most flattering image. Luckily, Barnes has his body intact, and we have Marvel to thank for that.
It is just actor Sebastian Stan who had to gain a little (well, maybe more than a little) weight to convincingly appear as former US president Donald Trump in the upcoming movie The Apprentice. The weight gain is not as surprising as the duration of time in which it was done.
Bucky Barnes Actor Sebastian Stan Went Through a Shocking Body Transformation
Sebastian Stan has been in Hollywood for over two decades now, and yet somehow he manages to switch in and out of the limelight as he pleases. He began pursuing acting in earnest in 2003 with a role in Law & Order. Since then, he has played a plethora of different characters without getting typecast as a single one.
In 2011, Stan joined the MCU as Captain America’s frenemy James Buchanan Barnes aka Bucky Barnes. He has since appeared as the character in numerous movies of the franchise. It is no secret that superheroes are designed to be in perfect shape for the most part with a couple of exceptions here and there (cue: Thor from Avengers: Endgame).
The Gossip Girl actor was still in superhero shape with the date of the filming of The Apprentice fast approaching. Naturally, there were only two choices: get the date pushed which could cost them a fortune, or gain as much weight as an individual possibly can in that short period. Unsurprisingly, Stan chose the latter.
Director Ali Abbasi had asked him how much weight he could realistically gain in that much time. Talking of this with Variety, the I, Tonya actor said:
You’d be surprised. You can gain a lot of weight in two months.
Stan gained a shocking 15 pounds before filming commenced. Now, this is not the first time an actor has gone through such a drastic body transformation considering the amount of weight (30 pounds, to be exact) Mark Wahlberg gained for his role in 2022’s Father Stu.
Body Was Not the Only Thing Sebastian Stan Had to Change to Portray Donald Trump
While the body transformation is surely something huge to go through, that is not the only thing Stan had to achieve to bring Trump to the screen in the documentary drama. Besides the tristate accent, Trump also speaks in a certain way which Stan had to learn.
Speaking to the outlet about it, the Pam & Tommy star revealed how he aced Trump’s signature pout and the overall speech.
I started to realize that I needed to start speaking with my lips in a different way. A lot of that came from the consonants. If I’m talking, I’m moving forward. The consonants naturally forced your lips forward.
Director Abbasi said that Stan managed to perfectly balance it without overdoing or underdoing the whole thing. He emphasized that the actor used research to achieve that perfection.
The Apprentice is scheduled to be released on October 11.
