Controversial Donald Trump Biopic Set for Pre-Election Release

Director Ali Abbasi’s controversial biopic on Donald Trump, The Apprentice, has secured a pre-election release date after struggling for months to find a buyer.

Featuring Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump and Succession’s Jeremy Strong as his mentor, lawyer, and political fixer Roy Cohn, the 80s-set film is being marketed as an “origin story.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Ortenberg’s Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired the movie. It is scheduled for theatrical release in the US on October 11, with plans for an awards campaign aiming at the 2025 Oscars.

The news follows months of uncertainty as The Apprentice failed to secure a US distributor or streaming deal, despite receiving critical acclaim at its world premiere during the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Producers believed that studios and distributors were hesitant to get involved with the project due to fears of potential backlash if Trump were to be reelected as president in November.

The biopic reportedly includes several unflattering scenes, depicting Trump using drugs, undergoing cosmetic procedures, and controversially, sexually assaulting his first wife, Ivana Trump—a claim she retracted in 2015 after initially making the accusation during their 1989 divorce deposition.

The film’s making was also financially backed by billionaire Dan Snyder, former owner of the NFL team, the Washington Commanders, who initially believed the project would favorably portray Trump’s rise in real estate. Snyder is reportedly “furious” with the final product.

Just days after the screening at Cannes, Trump’s campaign issued a cease-and-desist letter, warning producers against pursuing any distribution deals.

“We filed a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,” stated Trump campaign chief spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement to The Independent.

“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,” he added.

“This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store. It belongs in a dumpster fire,” continued Cheung.

Producers have dismissed these claims, telling Variety that “the film is a fair and balanced portrait of the former president. We want everyone to see it and then decide.”

During the movie’s press conference at Cannes, Abbasi hinted at the movie’s strategic timing, joking, “We have a promotional event called the US elections which we hope will help our movie.

“If I’m right, the second debate is going to be in October. So that would be a good release date for us,” he said.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, The Independent, Variety