NEW YORK — Two weeks after the long-awaited debut on Cannes Film Festival, a film about Donald Trump in the 1980s is still seeking distribution in the United States.
At Cannes, “The Apprentice” revealed a powerful portrait of the former US president as a young man. The film, starring Sebastian Stan, chronicles Trump’s rise to power in New York real estate under the tutelage of Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), the defense attorney who was chief counsel for the Joseph McCarthy’s Senate investigations of the 1950s of supposed communists.
“The Apprentice”, directed by Danish Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi, immediately sparked controversy. After its premiere, Trump’s re-election campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the film “pure fiction” and said Trump’s team would sue “to address the blatantly false claims of these fake filmmakers.”
Influenced by this threat or not, “The Apprentice” has yet to secure distribution from a major studio or a leading streaming service — neither of which have made an offer on the film. While the film has gained international distribution in most territories around the world, it still doesn’t have a home in the country where Trump is running for president.
While high-profile films typically find buyers before or shortly after their festival debut, negotiations can drag on. A spokesperson for the film’s sales team declined to comment. A person close to the film, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said there are numerous offers for the film domestically.
Earlier this week, Abbasi’s frustration appeared to boil over on X, the social media platform. In response to a report blaming a series of sequels and remakes for the films’ recently dismal box office performance, Abbasi offered “a new proposal.”
“It is neither a (expletive) sequel nor a (expletive) remake,” Abbasi wrote. “It’s called #The_Apprentice and for some reason certain powerful people in your country don’t want you to see it!!!”
Representatives for Trump did not respond to requests for comment. Last Thursday, Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a secret payment to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.
One scene in the film is especially explosive. At the end of the film, Trump is depicted raping his wife, Ivana Trump (played by Maria Bakalova ). In Ivana Trump’s 1990 divorce deposition, she claimed that Trump raped her. Trump denied the accusation and Ivana Trump later said that she did not mean it literally, but rather that she felt violated.
Earlier variety reported alleged behind-the-scenes drama around “The Apprentice”. Citing anonymous sources, the trade publication reported that billionaire Dan Snyder, the former Washington Commanders owner and investor in “The Apprentice” pressured the filmmakers to edit out the rape scene. Snyder has previously donated to Trump’s presidential campaign.
Snyder’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Casting “The Apprentice” most years can be a challenge. In an election year, it is a potential lightning rod. Distributors would have the option of releasing it just before the November elections or after them.
“The Apprentice” received largely positive reviews at Cannes, but was not taken into consideration in the festival’s jury awards. Strong’s performance was particularly praised as a possible awards contender.
At the film’s premiere, Abbasi defended the film’s straightforward approach, saying that “there is no nice metaphorical way to deal with the rising tide of fascism.”
The following day, the filmmaker ignored the threat of prosecution.
“I don’t necessarily think this is a movie he wouldn’t like,” Abbasi said.. “I don’t necessarily think he would like it. I think he would be surprised, you know? And like I said before, I would offer to go meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the film, do a screening and talk afterward, if that would be interesting to anyone on the Trump campaign.”
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