Donald Trump does not want the upcoming movie based on his life, The Apprentice, to be released in theaters, but it will do just that. The film stars Sebastian Stan as a young version of Donald J. Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, the shady prosecutor and political fixer who mentored the former President early into his career. Their dynamic is central to the story, an origin of sorts for Trump and, in many ways, the current state of the country. The Succession star says being cast as Cohn meant playing one of the most despicable people in the previous century.
While on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (via The Daily Beast), Jeremy Strong discussed playing Roy Cohn, describing him as “one of the worst humans of the 20th century.” He goes as far as to call him a “demonic Peter Pan that never grew up,” which is a pretty eye-opening and unique way to describe someone. However, when posed with the dilemma of some people criticizing The Apprentice for “humanizing” Trump and Cohn, Strong has a problem with the idea that they could make the characters “too human.” To him, The Apprentice did not set out to solely paint a caricature of these controversial figures, but to hold up a mirror to their nature and the society around them.
“I think the director, Ali Abbassi, attempted to hold a mirror up to [human] nature, hold a mirror up to these people and to our society. I think [the movie] is not a polemic. It is not partisan. [The movie’s] not trying to tell you who to vote for. It’s trying to examine these individuals and take them seriously as human beings which is not something we tend to do. We tend to otherize and demonize and mock these people.”
The Apprentice Nearly Got Banned
Despite the filmmakers behind The Apprentice stating the movie is not a “political hit piece,” Donald Trump and his legal team do not agree with their sentiment. Ever since its inception, Trump has tried to get the film banned from playing in theaters in the United States, and, at the very least, delayed from its October release date (a month before the U.S. election). During his sit down with Colbert, Jeremy Strong lamented the fact the “very loaded” film nearly got banned.
“It’s very loaded. The movie narrowly escaped the jaws of being banned in this country, which is not something that should be happening in this country in this day and age but it very nearly did.”
The Apprentice is indeed a very heavy film, as one of its most controversial aspects is a scene in which Trump rapes his former wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova). As the trailer teases, the upcoming biopic not-so-subtly references the creation of the Trump persona, including the “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan. It’s not hard to see why the convicted former President wanted the film to be banned right before the election. Read the synopsis for the film below:
The Apprentice is a dive into the underbelly of the American empire. It charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn.
The Apprentice
is set to release in theaters this October.