The Apprentice: Donald Trump goes off on ‘fake and classless’ biopic, giving film free publicity
Donald Trump has just given the biopic about his early years the best free publicity in the world.
The former US president went off on The Apprentice not long after midnight on his social media platform, calling it “fake and classless”.
The film stars Sebastian Stan as a young Trump starting in 1970s New York City, coming under the tutelage of controversial lawyer Roy Cohn.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Trump is not a fan, although it’s not clear if he has seen the film, directed by Ali Abbasi.
The presidential candidate continued, “It’s a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 presidential election, to try and hurt the greatest political movement in the history of our country.”
He even questioned whether the film had the right to use the title The Apprentice, which refers to both Cohn’s mentoring of Trump and the reality TV show he hosted.
The Apprentice premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and immediately drew condemnation from Trump’s camp, especially over two scenes – one in which the onscreen version of Trump rapes Ivana Trump, his first wife, and another in which he is seen on the operating table, having liposuction and scalp surgery to cover up his bald spot.
Ivana Trump made the rape allegation during the couple’s 1989 divorce deposition but decades later she walked back the claim.
In his social media tirade, Trump added, “So sad that human scum, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want to hurt a political movement, which is far bigger than any of us.”
After its premiere, The Apprentice struggled to secure a US distributor and was caught in behind-the-scenes drama with one of its financial backers, a Trump supporter named Dan Snyder who initially thought the film was to be a flattering portrait.
Snyder, through the company Kinematics, later sold their stake in the film, and The Apprentice confirmed Briarcliff would release the film in the US. In Australia, Madman bought the rights out of Cannes.
At the time of the Cannes debut, Trump’s camp called the film “a concoction of lies”.
Abbasi said at the premiere, “There is no nice metaphorical way to deal with the rising wave of fascism. There’s only the messy way. There’s only the banal way.
“There’s only the way of dealing with this wave on its terms, at its level and it’s not going to be pretty, but I think the problem with the world is that the good people have been quiet for too long. It’s time to make movies political again.”
With a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 79 per cent, The Apprentice has been in the awards conversation for the performances of its leads, Stan, Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova.
The film premiered this past week but has failed to ignite the box office. Locally, it didn’t crack the top 10 in its opening weekend, which means it sold fewer than $225,000 worth of tickets.
In the US, it earned $US1.6 million at the box office, placing it in 10th spot.
With Trump giving The Apprentice more attention, the film may receive a boost, especially if the divisive figure’s detractors want to prove Trump wrong by making it a minor success.
