The Apprentice
Biographical drama by Ali Abbasi (Gräns) about Donald Trump’s early years as a real estate entrepreneur. Set in the sleazy New York of the 1970s and 1980s, featuring Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as his mentor Roy Cohn.
THE APPRENTICE is a dive into the underbelly of the American empire. It charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn. Written by Gabriel Sherman, also known for his New York Times bestseller on the history of Roger Ailes, founder of Fox News, this biographical film shows how Donald Trump became the businessman and politician we know today.
Despite a successful premiere at Cannes in May, THE APPRENTICE faced great difficulties securing distribution rights in the United States. Trump’s campaign team sent a cease and desist to director Ali Abbasi and is threatening with legal action ‘to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers’, said Trump’s campaign communications director. The film’s producers insist that the film is a fair and balanced portrait of the former president.