“You’re in Italy, right?”he asks us Maria Bakalovaconnected on Zoom from a hotel room in London, for the quarter of an hour we have available for our interview. “You know, I’m from Bulgaria. And we both, I think, grew up dreaming of American stories.”. He is in the midst of the press tour that he anticipates The Apprentice Of He is the Assassinsin which he plays (greatly) none other than Ivana Trump.
Maria Bakalova is Ivana Trump on The Apprentice
Seen and loved at the Cannes Film Festival, the film is a sort of origin story that illuminates the relationship between Donald Trump and the fixer Roy Cohn (Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong) in New York in the 1980s. A rise to power, the turning point of the United States of America, we could almost say. With the actress, nominated for an Oscar in 2020, we talked about how Ivana was in some way a symbol of equality and emancipation, in addition to the methodical study applied for a dazzling interpretation.
The Apprentice: interview with Maria Bakalova
Maria, after The Apprentice what did you understand most about the United States?
You and I both grew up hearing about the American dream: a house, a good job, a family, a dog. It looked like a dream. But what is the dark side of this dream? Is it necessary to surround yourself with people who aren’t always the best? Is it really necessary to lose your morals to achieve your goals? What is the dark side of all this splendor and success? I think that’s what the movie is about, to be honest.
Marka Bakalova is Sebastian Stan
So, it’s not just Trump, Ivana and Roy?
The film isn’t just about these three people. These three people are just archetypes of a system. It talks about how the system can change people, one way or another. The power dynamics are so strange. But relationships based on connections, on candiesare they really worth living? I do not know. The film asks many questions. It helps to understand a little more how these people turn into the ones we know today, but it also raises a lot of questions about how the system works in general.
In your opinion, was there true love between Ivana and her husband? Or was it some sort of partnership?
I think it was a bit of a one-off, to be honest. Because in the beginning, and I’m speaking from what I’ve studied, I believe there was a real love story in the beginning. I think they were really influenced by each other from the first time they saw each other. However, this relationship was the basis for the construction of theempire that he built. A silly quote we’ve all heard before: behind every successful man there is a very strong woman.
Ivana Trump as the Statue of Liberty
What struck you most about her?
I was very impressed that she didn’t want to be taken just as his lover, but as his partner, as an equal. I saw this documentary about it, which Sebastian sent me (Stan ed.). There was talk of her wanting to be seen as the Statue of Liberty. If Donald Trum was seen as the Empire State Building, Ivana wanted to be right there, an equal.
A scene from The Apprentice. In the background a New York taxi
What was the starting point for playing Ivana?
The first time I received the script was in New York, and I had the opportunity to meet Ali in person. It was the penultimate day of a film I was shooting here. I read the script, then I saw some interviews with her and I thought, ”Oh, my God, she looks like a woman and I look like a little girl. So I would have to wear a lot of makeup. I should get my hair teased like hers and I should wear something much tighter, much more feminine!”. I met with Abbasi and made a self-tape. When I got the role, after a year we started shooting. I had enough time to prepare and to watch all the interviews she gave, all the documentaries that were made about her and him, read her bibliography, read her books, try to recreate her accent, which doesn’t it’s the same as mine. It was challenging to deal with an Eastern European accent. I worked with Elizabeth Himelstein, accent coach, building the right sounds. I then studied the position of the hands, his long nailsthe way of walking. The entire behavior of a human being depends on how he walks. Ivana is a character that goes beyond life, and I just wanted to try to highlight this aspect as much as possible.
At the film’s premiere in New York
In a certain sense, Ivana Trump was synonymous with emancipation.
It’s inspiring to see that women like her had the courage to fight for equality. Even today it is a challenge to be treated equally. She had been doing it since the 70s. I remember that on the first day Sebastian and I did an improvised scene, trying to recreate an episode from the time, namely an interview with Oprah. It was so weird because, watching the interview, they talk about the first time they met. For a moment, Donald makes her feel inferior. She created herself voltage. Well, it was interesting to explore the moment in which the relationship goes from a happy couple to when one of the two partners doesn’t want to be on the same level as you but wants to take over.
The Apprentice, the review: Ali Abbasi’s film is a perfect snapshot of the American turning point
The set, the intimacy coordinator and the importance of a current film
Did you have an intimacy coordinator on set?
Yes, and that was very important, I think, because at the end of the day we’re not making a documentary, so it should all be cinematically appropriate. There’s a sex scene, so it’s good to have an intimacy coordinator, but it’s also a stunt because it’s a physical scene. Having both of us on set, and having Ali Abbassi always looking after us, making us feel safe and listened to, was amazing. At the beginning we discussed a lot about how to deal with the scene of violence because it is a sensitive topic.
Among other things, not only physical abuse.
Women are like Ivana survivors. But, again, this film is not about domestic violence. This film is not about physical or verbal abuse, but it was important to have this sequence, in my opinion, based on these characters and the relationship between these two people. It doesn’t matter what the abuse is, whether physical, verbal, emotional, public, narcissistic. Any abuse should not exist. But since it exists, it is our job to talk about it and shed light on it.
The Cannes photocall: Maria Bakalova, Ali Abbasi and Sebastian Stan
Have you had any feedback from Ivana’s family?
I don’t know, did they see it? I personally haven’t had any interaction with them, but I hope people go and see the film. I hope that people go into the theater with an open mind, with an open heart and that they enjoy the film because it is also very satisfying cinematically. It’s fun to go back to the 70’s and 80’s New York with these complex people, in these colorful and scary places. Our cinematographer recreated Manhattan in a moving way.
Do you think the public might be prejudiced?
My greatest hope is that prejudices remain outside the door before entering the cinema, because the film is very surprising. The Apprentice it asks a lot of questions about society, and about people, about archetypes, because we have three great characters. We have Roy Cohn, who is the archetype of the man who completely denies his identity. We have the archetype of the second-born who has never been trusted, that is Donald, and we have the archetype of the woman who has jumped ahead. I think it’s important to see it because it’s very timely.
