The highly anticipated Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” starring Sebastian Stan is straight off a sucessfull run at both Cannes at Telluride Film Festivals, garnering an 11 minute standing ovation at Cannes in May 2024. The film continues to receive more and more press, intrest and considering its focus, backlash. However, as director Ali Abbasi stressed while introducing “The Apprentice at Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, “This is not a political hit piece. This is a mirror…and it is intended to show you, as the mirrors do, an image of yourselves, not you per-se, but you as community.”
After the film’s screening at Cannes, the Trump campaign blasted the film as “garbage” and “pure fiction” and threatened to file a lawsuit against the filmmakers in an effort to derail its release. This of course made distributors weary of distributing such a contreversial film, but eventually Briarcliff Entertainment picked up the film for a domestic release.
Briacliff Entertainment recently shared the first clip from the film which gives us our first real look at Stan’s transformation into Trump. Stan offers a first glimpse of his portrayal of Donald Trump when he was simply just a real estate mogul and businessman climbing the corporate ladder alongside Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn.
“The Apprentice” delves into the rise of Donald Trump from a burgeoning real estate developer and businessman to future reality TV star and politician. The film, penned by journalist Gabriel Sherman—known for his 2014 bestseller on Roger Ailes—delivers a darkly comedic portrayal of Trump as a ruthless figure consumed by greed, vanity, and ethical collapse during the 1970s and ’80s. As a young man eager to earn his father Fred’s (Martin Donovan) approval, Trump finds an unlikely mentor in the notorious and merciless lawyer Roy Cohn. Under Cohn’s corrupting influence, Trump learns a brutal strategy for success. Mastering the ruthless tactics of wielding power, including aggressive attacks, moral indifference, and media manipulation. Revealing the amoral and deeply flawed nature of his mentor’s influence. This will be painfully familiar to anyone who has followed the news about Trump in the past few years. The film also stars Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. The film’s award season prospects are pretty good, especially for Sebastian Stan.
The film is scheduled to release on October 11th, less than a month before the 2024 presidential election. So without a doubt, this is one film you do not want to miss.
Fangirl and Writer with a huge passion for entertainment.
