Maria Bakalova compares Borat to The Apprentice — and explains why she relates to Ivana Trump

When Maria Bakalova was first introduced to American audiences in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, she was playing the fictional daughter of a Kazakhstani journalist trying to deliver a pet monkey to then-President Donald Trump. Four years later, she's now playing Trump's late ex-wife, Ivana, in The Apprentice (out now on digital).

The movies couldn't appear more different on the surface, but the Bulgarian actress sees some similarities between the satirical comedy and the controversial biopic following a young Donald Trump (played by Sebastian Stan) as he rises to power under the tutelage of his nefarious mentor, Roy Cohn (played by Jeremy Strong). 

Besides becoming a lightning rod for legal threats, both films also "opened up a lot of discussions about what kind of people we should support, and what kind of people we should criticize," Bakalova tells Entertainment Weekly. "I think both of these movies are similar in that we should not be focused on what is good and what is bad but instead provoke conversations. It should open up discussions on how things can be better."

Sparking those kinds of conversations is part of what Bakalova loves about being an artist. But at first, becoming a movie star felt like a far-fetched childhood dream. "My biggest escape was through acting, and I was writing on my school desk, 'I'm going to be a great movie star someday,' quoting Marilyn Monroe, drawing the palm trees and the Hollywood sign with the Walk of Fame and everything," she shares. 

"And then this otherworldly thing happened to me back in 2019 when I saw a Facebook post saying, 'We're searching for a lead actress for a big Hollywood movie,' which sounded like a scam," she adds, referring to casting call she saw online for the Borat sequel. She went out for the role, impressed Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen, and landed the part. Her first English-language role, Bakalova earned an Oscar nomination playing Borat's daughter Tutar in the comedy, which involved numerous improvised, hidden camera stunts, including a now-infamous encounter with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

While Bakalova received widespread acclaim for her comedic chops, Borat was actually the actress' first starring role in a comedy. "I'd never done improv before Borat. I was just thrown into this world of comedy," she says. "I didn't know a lot about comedy as well, which was a big mistake not to pay attention to that powerful tool because I believe in The Apprentice, we have a lot of comedic moments, which elevates the story even more because we are exploring this horror story, but at the same time, it's hilarious in bits and pieces."

Not only does The Apprentice have comedic moments, but its director, Ali Abbasi, also encouraged his actors to improvise. Still, Bakalova says the process was "much different" than Borat, in which she often had to interact with non-actors who didn't know they were being filmed for a movie. "With Borat, we did a lot of improv, but we were mostly following what people were telling us and adapting in the moment," she explains. "But I do believe it was helpful to work with Sacha. And I love him; he's my forever hero."

Bakalova shares most of her screen time with Stan, whom she calls "an absolutely astonishing" scene partner, especially during those improvised moments. "It's been wonderful to work with him because even if none of us knows what's going to happen in a scene, he's just going to jump into it. And I know I can trust him, so I jump after him," she says. "If I suggest something, he is not taken aback, but he's actually following, and it's a great team play. So it was wonderful."

"Maria was extremely prepared. We had a lot of trust," Stan agrees. Recalling one partially improvised scene in which Ivana reveals her dreams and ambitions to Trump, Stan says, "I felt there was real truth in what she was expressing in terms of coming to this country and wanting something specific and wanting to make something of herself. I felt at that moment that only somebody like Maria could really understand that in Ivana based on who Maria is and her background coming from Eastern Europe."

Abbasi knew from the beginning that he wanted to cast an Eastern European actress to play Ivana, but the idea wasn't always so popular with the film's prospective backers. "Every financier that came on board, the first input was, 'Okay, so is it going to be Jennifer Lawrence? And I'm like, 'No, it's going to be someone from Eastern Europe, of course.' And they were looking at me as if I wanted to walk to the moon or something," Abbasi shares. "This is a thing I don't understand. You have all these fantastic accomplished actors from the right region that give you the authenticity, and by the way, it's not only an accent, it's a way of life, it's a culture, it's a mentality."

While Bakalova notes that as a Bulgarian, her accent is "really, really" different from Ivana's Czech accent, she agrees that her background played an important role in channeling the former model's personality. "These countries have been through a very different political system that is difficult to explain," she says. "You have to have been through it, or at least you have to have been in a family that has been through it. I remember when I was a child going through inflation, the price of chewing gum would go from $100 to $10 bucks to a penny. And it's important because it changes your mentality. You can have everything, and then you can lose absolutely everything. Going through that changes your way of thinking and the way you approach life." 

She adds of Ivana, "I understand her in a lot of ways. I criticize her in a lot of situations as well, but for most of it, I can empathize with her."

Finding ways to relate to her character was crucial for Bakalova's process. "It was kind of scary because when you play somebody who actually existed, even if it's a controversial figure, you still have to go to them with empathy in a way. And I wanted to play her with respect and dignity."

"Maria's job was quite difficult," Abbasi notes. "She had to establish the cliché of the Eastern European social climber, trophy wife coming to America, but also break that cliche and give us the humanity again."

Like her costars, she started by diving into a meticulous research project, reading everything she could get her hands on, and sharing notes with Stan. The more she learned, the more she saw herself in the late socialite and businesswoman. "She was born in communist Slovakia. I'm from Bulgaria, and by the time I was born, it wasn't a communist [country], but it was still a time of adapting from communism to socialism to democracy, and it's still difficult," Bakalova explains. "So it's inspiring to see that somebody who came from nothing managed to do so much, and she did it all by herself…. When you come from nothing, when you come from a place that does not have support for you, you constantly have to prove yourself, which I relate to. I know how much it takes."

Abbasi recognized Bakalova's dedication to proving herself the first time they met. For her audition, the actress did her own hair and makeup to emulate Ivana's famous style from the '80s. "She came in with s--- loads of makeup and all this hair, and I was like, 'Wow.' She tried to sell me Ivana on the spot." the director recalls. Bakalova adds, "I was volumizing my hair for two hours before going. I was like, this is so awkward, but it's worth it." The actress was so diligent in her preparation that day that Abbasi ended up altering his makeup department's designs for Ivana's look to reflect the work Bakalova had done for her audition. "I was like, that was actually better," Abbasi recalls. "So, actually, we went back to her version."

While the actress didn't stay in character throughout the shoot like Stan and Strong, opting only to keep Ivana's accent intact during the production, she shares her costars' deep commitment to her art. "As an Eastern European educated in theater and stage acting for 10 years between Bulgaria and Russia, I've been told that you should give it your all — even if that's dangerous for you physically and mentally," she says. "Maybe that's not right, but if you have to do it, you just do it. You do it for the sake of art."

Strong, who, in the past, has given his peers pause with his intense dedication to his performances, says of working with Bakalova, "She's a heavyweight actress, and her work is brilliant in this."

"If you look at Maria's last couple of years, it's really unbelievable what she's done," adds Stan, who knew Bakalova before The Apprentice from their work in the MCU. "She came out of nowhere and did this really wild yet grounded performance in Borat, and then she does Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, and she's very delicate and subtle. Then she comes in here and holds her own, and these are all totally different things."

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Whether she's playing a telekinetic dog in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, a final girl in an A24 horror-comedy, or the complicated, controversial wife of a future president, Bakalova always tries to find the humanity in her characters. "You can empathize with them, you can criticize them, as long as they make you feel something," she says. "That's the most important part because, at the end of the day, we all have good and bad sides, and it's just a matter of circumstances and stages of your life that you choose to go in this direction or that direction."

With nearly a dozen upcoming projects listed on her IMDB page, the only direction Bakalova seems to be going is up. "The better the competition, the better you become," she says of working in Hollywood. "I like that because it makes me do better. It's important to keep going and become a better version of yourself every year."