Former President Donald Trump never misses an opportunity to comment on a topical news story, especially when it’s about him. The current Republican presidential candidate for the White House is coming out against Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, a film starring Sebastian Stan as Trump during his ascension as a real estate mogul under the tutelage of Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). The film opened over the weekend courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment, and Trump is making it very clear that he has no nice feelings about the movie.
Trump took to his Truth Social page and went in hard against The Apprentice, calling it “A FAKE and CLASSLESS” movie and suggesting the film was being released before the 2024 Presidential Election to “hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country.” Much of Trump’s online tirade is typical of him and should be no surprise, especially since the project doesn’t show him in the best possible light. Given it was the movie’s opening weekend, the film is more relevant than ever, and Trump doesn’t miss a chance to also be present in any news story where his name is mentioned.
It didn’t take long for Abbasi to find out about Trump’s post and the director soon took to his X page to release his own statement that thanked the presidential hopeful for getting back the film’s movie team, saying that he’s available to “talk further if you want.” However, in a bit of a cheeky response, Abbasi admitted to being busy with press for the film and said, “But I might be able to give you a call tomorrow.” So far, Trump hasn’t responded to the director’s recent post.
The Apprentice Debuted to Lackluster Numbers Over the Weekend
The Apprentice opened on 1,740 screens over the weekend, a respectable number for a film that once found it hard to land a distributor, but the movie was met with soft box office numbers, opening to just $1.58 million. Some people have made comments that the current presidential race has turned into quite a spectacle, so any film made about Trump, even if it doesn’t touch on his current presidential aspirations, won’t be as shocking or salacious as anything going on in his real life. Reviews for the film are good at 78% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with an even more impressive 85% Popcornmeter that now measures audience reaction on the site. For those who have seen it, the response has appeared to be mostly positive, but being able to reach an audience that is on the fence about the film has been difficult so far.
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After The Apprentice had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the Trump campaign threatened a lawsuit against the film in a statement released by the campaign’s chief spokesperson, Steven Cheung. The statement read:
“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers. This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked.”
Written by Gabriel Sherman, The Apprentice tracks Trump’s rise as a real estate businessman in New York in the ’70s and ’80s. The movie particularly focuses on his relationship with lawyer Roy Cohn and how Trump was guided under his mentorship. The Trump campaign is likely concerned about certain scenes in the film that depict him in a negative light, including violently raping his first wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova) and undergoing cosmetic surgery. After the film’s premiere at Cannes, the director addressed the statement that threatened legal action, and he made an offer to meet Trump in person to screen the film with him.
“I don’t necessarily think that this is a movie he would dislike. I don’t necessarily think he would like it. I think he would be surprised, you know? And like I’ve said before, I would offer to go and meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the movie, have a screening and have a chat afterwards, if that’s interesting to anyone at the Trump campaign.”
The Apprentice
is now playing in theaters nationwide.
Set during the early years of Trump’s business career, the film focuses on the relationship of Trump and Roy Cohn, a New York City prosecutor known for working with Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Second Red Scare.