First Footage Released from Controversial Trump Documentary

Despite Donald Trump’s efforts to halt the release of Ali Abbasi’s film The Apprentice, the project is still making waves. A new clip, released on Tuesday, features a portrayal of Trump from decades earlier (played by Sebastian Stan), being coached for an interview by his late friend and lawyer Roy Cohn (portrayed by Succession‘s Jeremy Strong).

The first clip from the film, which has a tentative release date of October 11, showcases a scene where Trump and Cohn share the back of a town car. In this scene, Cohn intimidates a reporter into interviewing Trump. “About a hundred reporters were crawling up my ass to get this interview, and I gave you the exclusive,” Cohn’s character says as he hands Trump the phone.

Cohn then prompts Trump to use more grandiose language while speaking to the reporter, just after settling a racial discrimination lawsuit related to his father’s housing practices. “I’m planning on making the best and the finest building,” Stan says as Trump, “in the city—maybe the country,” then, following Cohn’s direction, he adds, “in the world.”

The Apprentice charts the early days of Trump’s New York real estate business in the 1970s and 80s, with considerable assistance from the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn. Cohn, who passed away in 1986, is said to have played a significant role in Trump’s rise to power. The film has garnered largely positive reviews from critics, many of whom have focused on a controversial rape scene involving Trump and his first wife, Ivana.

Dan Snyder, a billionaire partial financier and Trump ally, was so disturbed by Trump’s depiction in the film that he tried to prevent it from being released in U.S. theaters. However, his investment was bought out, allowing the movie to proceed with its scheduled release, just before the election. Director Ali Abbasi expressed his excitement with a post on Twitter/X: “Soooo excited to show the movie to its home audience!!! America, here we come.”

Trump, conversely, has vowed to take legal action against the filmmakers. His spokesperson, Steven Cheung, told the Daily Beast, “We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,” adding that “This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Source: The Daily Beast