Sebastian Stan thinks Donald Trump is a “lot smarter” than people want to admit.

The Golden Globe nominated actor, 42, is playing the real estate mogul-turned politician in 40-year-old filmmaker Ali Abbasi’s film ‘The Apprentice’, which premieres on 11 October in US cinemas ahead of the country’s November presidential elections.

He told Variety about his conclusions about Trump, 78, after carrying out detailed research on the Republican him for the role: “I think he’s a lot smarter than people want to say about him, because he repeats things consistently, and he’s given you a brand.”

Sebastian watched videos of Trump on a loop while preparing for ‘The Apprentice’ and his phone is filled with clips of the ex-president, who is this year running for the White House against 59-year-old Democrat Kamala Harris.

The movie sees Trump as he moves from insecure, aspiring real estate developer to a New York celebrity.

Sebastian added about his research for the part: “I had 130 videos on his physicality on my phone. And 562 videos that I had pulled with pictures from different time periods – from the ’70s all the way to today – so I could pull out his speech patterns and try to improvise like him.”

Variety reported Sebastian would improvise entire scenes in the movie at director Ali’s request, based on his forensic research into Trump’s tangled business dealings.

He said: “Ali could come in on the second take and say, ‘Why don’t you talk a little bit about the taxes and how you don’t want to pay?’

“So I had to know what charities they were going to in 1983. Every night I would go home and try not only to prepare for the day that was coming, but also to prepare for where Ali was going to take this.”