Shortly after Ali Abbasi‘s Donald Trump origin movie The Apprentice had its world premiere at Cannes, Trump’s legal team fired off a cease and desist letter to the filmmakers.
But as the film is finally set to be released in U.S. theaters on Friday, via Tom Ortenberg’s Briarcliff Entertainment and Rich Spirit, the Trump team has seemingly remained relatively quiet about the project.
While Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung has denounced the film in a statement, the former president, at least based on reports, hasn’t made any new legal threats against the film nor has he been issuing headline-making statements about it on Truth Social or at his rallies.
When asked about the possibility of future Trump threats at The Apprentice‘s New York premiere, just a little over a block away from Trump Tower, director Ali Abbasi stood by his movie and doubted Trump’s team would sue.
“I doubt they have the balls [to come after the film],” Abbasi told The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t think so, because they know we’re right. They know there’s nothing to be sued about. They know that things are accurate and double and triple, quadruple checked journalistically and legally. There’s nothing there, you know.”
Still he was defiant about future threats: “I mean, bring it on. That’s what I tell them.”
The screening, at New York’s DGA Theater, was attended by stars Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova; writer Gabriel Sherman; producer Daniel Bekerman; and executive producer Amy Baer and even former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who walked the red carpet and spoke to media outlets.
Cohen, who told THR that he was invited by longtime acquaintance Sherman and said he was curious to see the film, offered some insight into how Trump might publicly react to the movie.
“It all depends on … what the reviews are. If the reviews are scathing to him, he will respond to it,” Cohen told THR. “You know, what he doesn’t want to do is fuel the conversation about something that he didn’t want to be released. The more he talks about it, the more he exposes the movie, and the more people obviously will want to see it. As Donald will always tell you, sometimes bad press is good press.”
The film focuses on the relationship between Trump (Stan) and New York power broker Roy Cohn (Strong), when Trump was an up-and-coming real estate mogul in the 1970s and ’80s, showing how Cohn shaped Trump into the man he is today.
And Cohen said he “absolutely” saw the effects of Cohn’s influence during his time working for Trump.
“The loyalty that you were required to provide was something you don’t see in other companies,” Cohen said. “It was demanded, and I gave it. And that was something that I do know that Roy Cohn told him.”
Though the film is being released less than a month before the 2024 election, the filmmakers have maintained that it’s not a political hit piece and instead offers a nuanced portrayal of the Republican presidential candidate’s early career.
But when asked what they wanted voters to take away from the film, Bekerman said he hoped it would give them a “new perspective.”
“I really hope that this movie does offer a new perspective on things that people have sort of shut off their brains on because they’ve formed a very hard opinion one way or the other, and they sort of stop really looking at it. I think this movie does offer a new way to look at it, and the way really is a humanistic storytelling lens that we look at this, these characters through,” he told THR. “By connecting with the characters as human beings, as Ali directed them, as the actors gave the characters the respect they deserved and didn’t just portray them as cartoons like they’re, frankly, mostly portrayed in most most of the media these days, there is a new potential for a new perspective, and I think that’s valuable any time, especially now.”
Abbasi meanwhile, urged people to “see it with an open mind.”
And while highlighting the entertainment factor of the film more than its influence on the election, he insisted this was the right time for it.
“I think it’s a ride. I think it’s an experience. I think it’s actually quite entertaining. I love the soundtrack. There are amazing performances. So not everything is about Donald Trump for or against,” he said. “It comes before the elections, because this is the biggest event. And I would be crazy if I said, ‘Oh, I have the possibility of doing it and not do it,’ because this is very much about the character who’s running for president. And I’m not going to tell you how to vote. But if you are wondering what kind of character he is, if you are wondering how he got to the place he is, we have some answers for you.”
