There was no one more surprised by Jeremy Strong‘s Golden Globe nomination for “The Apprentice” than Jeremy Strong.
“I am just indescribably moved by today’s news and surprised by it as well,” he tells Gold Derby after Monday’s nomination announcement. “I, to be honest with you, had been kind of just bracing myself to not be included in these things because of the way the film has sort of been received or not received, I should say. Not embraced.”
Strong is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his turn as Roy Cohn, who mentors a young about a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) in the Ali Abbasi drama. “The Apprentice” has been a lightning rod since it was first announced a year ago and struggled to find distribution after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Trump and his legal team also attempted to block its release before Briarcliff Entertainment acquired it and released it in October.
Last month, Stan, who was nominated for his lead performance, made headlines when he revealed that he was unable to participate in our sister site Variety‘s Actor on Actors interview series because publicists did not want their clients to discuss a movie about the president-elect. The film feels like it’s “sort of been soft-blacklisted,” Strong says, “which is ironic given Roy Cohn’s legacy and participation in McCarthyism.”
“I have felt like no one wanted to support the movie and obviously the studios and streamers and some of the media and the awards apparatus,” he continues. “And so for the Globes to recognize Sebastian’s work and my work on the grounds of artistry is just incredibly meaningful to me. I think that it gives the movie a kind of second chance for people to embrace it and to see it even. I think a lot of people resisted seeing it because they had notions of what it was, which I think are incorrect. I think this movie is not what you expect it to be at any level and I think it’s not a political film. I went to see Kenneth Branagh do ‘King Lear’ the other night in New York and I was thinking, ‘The Apprentice’ is no more a political drama than a Shakespeare play is a political drama. It’s a human drama and it’s a love story and it has as much in common with ‘Midnight Cowboy’ and ‘Barry Lyndon’ and ‘Boogie Nights’ as it does with a Shakespeare play, so I’m just thrilled that the Globes saw fit to include it. I’m gobsmacked to be included amongst these nominees.”
