Jeremy Strong received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Roy Cohn in The Apprentice.
For me Jeremy Strong has one of the stranger trajectories as an actor in terms of my own opinion, as to not beat around the bush, I found him quite the terrible overactor for so many of his early appearances and it wasn’t until his outstanding work on Succession that I was able to see the potential. Of course I pondered if it was something with sort of expanded time frame that allowed his Succession work to grow, although to his credit he seemed to have an idea of who Kendall Roy was from the first episode something that wasn’t entirely true for a few of his fellow cast members and really the show itself. But even with that great performance under his belt I still had seen similar tendencies in his performances in a few films, though the end result was superior to his earlier cinematic work albeit imperfect. That leads us to his performance in the Apprentice following the rise of a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) to power from the 70’s to the 80’s. Strong taking on the role of Roy Cohn, a role that I’ll say probably plays nicely into Strong’s weaknesses in a way, because to preface this is not a completely new Jeremy Strong by any means here, but it is a role that is more suited to the approach. Because the real Roy Cohn was a pretty ridiculous caricature to begin as a man, and take one of Strong’s choices in this role, which is his frequent head bobbing back and forth like he’s a human vulture, befitting someone who basically feasted off corpses as a power broker and lawyer in more ways than one, well that actually was a mannerism of the real Roy Cohn and looked as strange as when Strong does it. But I’ll give Strong the credit in both ways, it is a representation of the real person but even as an archer approach, I have to admit it also works.
So from the outset of the film, Cohn, while a real person, is in a way the prince of darkness within the early scenes of the film, and the film positions him as such. And one of the great bits of impression, that becomes just part of his performance and speaks most to the nature of the character it would seem, is the completely soulless eyes that Strong manages to pull off as constant. Something that serves him well from the outset as the devil first catching sight of Trump and urging the younger hopeful someday mogul to come see him. And the achievement of the performance begins here, though how it actually realizes itself comes later, but watching the film for a second time illuminated specifically what Strong does here that is so effective. And yes Strong is very big here but again it is within a role that is suitable for the approach. As we get the dead eyes, the birdlike posture, the thick accent with a consistently callous delivery, it is all put on pretty broad, but it works as such. Strong as much as he’s a caricature, he’s a convincing caricature as a man who presents himself as such and more importantly owns that as a part of the power. An essential facet of what Strong does is within even though you could take him as a joke the power of the character feels innate and exudes off of him. As much as he might seem ridiculous, you still very much feel the calm menace of the character because Strong creates the sense of danger that exists in a man who is without shame, care and just owns his immorality. There’s a certain sale that Strong is always pitching, though only as the most confident of pitchmen, who can rattle off his “accomplishments” and his prestigious and dirty associations as second nature to him.
The course of action for the first act of the film is Cohn taking on Trump as his titular apprentice, by helping Trump with his legal lawsuits against his father’s company. Strong is entertaining just to watch here in playing just into every bit of the cutting nature of Cohn as he shows Trump not only how to sell himself as the best but also how to go to the throat in every situation. Strong’s performance brings more than anything the shamelessness in every bit of his physical and verbal acts of his performance. Whether it is denoting his rules of basically lying, cheating and attacking all opponents no matter what, Strong brings the wisdom of a sage just filtered through the sleaziest of mentalities but with the relaxed and striking manner of someone who knows that it also works. We see him handle himself in court, which is less of a lawyer who is making the best objections or legal angles, rather just as someone who is always willing to go to the lowest common denominator at every hurdle. He brings the same approach when bringing out the dirt against someone to get his way, Strong doesn’t play these moments differently rather just accentuating another tool in his crooked box. Strong approaches these moments as Cohn as having the clearest experience as even when he makes ridiculous objections it is with the absolute precision of someone who doesn’t care and will continue to cut through no matter what. He brings the bluntness of a sledge hammer as a man and Strong’s performance has that force within it. Strong shows Cohn as a man who can proudly deliver the line “if you’re indicted you’re invited” without hesitation or reservation, rather Strong presents it with ownership. One particularly effective bit is when he encourages Trump also to go bigger, such as silently urging him on in an interview to oversell his Trump tower as the “best ever”. Strong’s movements are of the life coach guru, just twisted as a corpse like life like guru on how to sell lines. This is in fact a very funny performance, although achieving the same types of laughs he got in Succession where it is more so the lack of awareness more than anything, yet Strong pulls that off brilliantly and differently from Succession here. It is just Cohn being himself, the horrid self he is, so when he catches the bouquet at Trump’s wedding to Ivana (Maria Bakalova), and celebrates it, it’s very funny however part of it is how completely unknowing Strong shows it to be as why anyone would be offended by it is, is part why it is funny.
And while I might’ve just enjoyed this performance about owning a caricature, I must give Strong more credit than that, particularly upon re-watch where there is an exceptional setup and payoff with his performance that works in large part due to his approach. Now to begin with there are subtle moments in the overall broad nature of the turn to begin with, such as I do love the moments where Trump throws out a particularly hard task for him, and there’s a pause in Strong’s performance where he shows quietly that even Cohn is a bit taken aback by how brazen Trump is willing to go in his own schemes. The greater impact however is within when the power dynamic between the two shifts as Trump becomes secure in his place while suddenly Cohn starts to seem the hanger on. It’s fascinating because Strong’s performance turns that guy who was so innately in command, begins to look so small and even silly as some artifact that Trump would rather be rid of, just by no longer presenting his own manner with that same power behind it. The idea combines with Cohn getting AIDS and what we have is a complete 180 shift here. Because what Strong brings from the callous villain of the first act to a truly vulnerable man. Strong does so in part by just bringing the increasing physical weakness in each scene that goes from a nagging cough to clearly a man being sucked off all his life slowly, but through that physical vulnerability he also brings emotion. When now Cohn is the one asking for favors, in this case trying to maintain housing for his secret lover, Strong’s excellent in falling apart suddenly, and becoming the fool as everything he did before indicates his power now indicates his wavering ability. Strong brings more overt emotion, and in doing so successfully shows the humanity of the character after it is too late. There is the greatness of this performance by Strong pulling the rug from Cohn by wholly flipping the power dynamic but even more so the presence of the man. It is so striking because the man that seemed so blithely in control as the caricature, now is the one seeking just a bit of help and nearly begging for it which Strong portrays with genuine desperation and suddenly an actual person. Strong makes him no longer the Prince of darkness, now he’s just a dying man asking for help. Strong pulling off quite the achievement by, I wouldn’t say make you feel bad for Cohn, but what he does do is find the tragedy even in an evil man. As Strong’s greatest scene, the one where he's the most intimate, emotional, and involved is when Trump seems to make good on their old friendship by having Cohn over to celebrate his old friend’s birthday, and even gives him a gift of expensive cufflinks. Strong’s fantastic in the moment of describing the gift to Ivana, because in his delivery he’s so small, you see the weakness of his physical state, but you also see an earnestness for once in the man as there is real just honest tenderness as speaks of the gift with such meaning behind the words as it indicates that someone loves him. Ivana however painfully reveals to Cohn that the cufflinks are fake, showing that Trump’s final show of care for his "family" is just an inconvenience for him, leaving Strong to be genuinely heartbreaking in his clearest show of emotion in the entire film as Strong's intense breakdown in seeing the meaningless of the display for him as Trump rolls out a birthday cake for him. Heartbreaking because what Strong manages to show is less that Cohn had any good in him, rather just the tragic realization in the man through this release of overwhelming emotion that his sins truly led him to be nothing more than a shallow unloved husk seeing nothing but a void waiting for him in death. Strong delivers a great performance here. Where his broad approach is one fitting for the character, however more so is utilized so well by making it part of the overall characterization where as Strong only finds the humanity in the role when it is as Cohn realizes too late what he's been lacking in his whole wasted life.
