Sebastian Stan takes a brutal jab at Donald Trump

Sebastian Stan has used the Cannes Film Festival to deliver a pointed assessment of the United States under Donald Trump, saying plainly that America is "in a really, really bad place."

The remarks came during a press conference for his new film Fjord on Monday, when a journalist asked the Romanian-American actor to reflect on his 2024 Trump biopic The Apprentice now that the former president has been back in office for over a year. 

The question drew nervous laughter from the room. Stan didn't join in. "It's just not a laughing matter, to be honest. It isn't," he said.

He went on: "I think we're in a really, really bad place. I really do. And to be honest with you, when you're looking at what's happening, right, if we're talking about the consolidation of the media, censorship, threats, the supposed lawsuits that seemingly never end but don't actually go anywhere. You know, the writing was on the wall. We encountered all that with the movie."

It's a reference to the turbulent run-up to The Apprentice's Cannes premiere in 2024, when Trump threatened legal action against the Ali Abbasi-directed film, calling it "garbage" and "pure fiction." 

The threat nearly derailed the screening entirely. 

"Three days before the festival, [we were] unsure if the movie was going to play the festival," Stan recalled. 

"So maybe people are paying attention more to that film, I think it will stand the test of time for that. But we went through all of it, right before Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert and so on. So, I wish it wasn't like that."

The comments came on the back of a triumphant night at Cannes for Stan and his new project. 

Fjord, directed by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu, received a ten-minute standing ovation at its Monday premiere. 

The film is a harrowing family drama in which Stan and Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve play the parents of a deeply religious Romanian family who relocate to a small Norwegian village, only to have their five children removed by authorities after bruises are discovered on their daughter at school. 

A gruelling legal battle follows.

The story behind Fjord makes it one of the stronger Palme d'Or contenders at this year's festival. 

Mungiu previously won the prize for his 2007 film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, while Reinsve claimed the best actress award at Cannes for The Worst Person in the World. 

She was also at last year's festival with Sentimental Value, which took the grand prix and went on to win the Oscar for best international feature film.

For Stan, it has been quite the Cannes, a standing ovation for one film, and a frank political statement that is likely to travel well beyond the Croisette.