Here’s an October surprise you can put on your calendar now: The Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice,” which created a buzz when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, has landed theatrical distribution from Briarcliff Entertainment and will hit theaters on Oct. 11, less than a month before the presidential election.
Ahead of its U.S. release, “The Apprentice,” starring Sebastian Stan as the real estate mogul-turned-reality-TV star and politician alongside Jeremy Strong as his notorious lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn, is also rumored to be among the surprise additions to the Telluride Film Festival lineup, which begins Friday, allowing American audiences to see the film for the first time.
Directed by Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi (“Holy Spider”), “The Apprentice,” which chronicles Trump’s ruthless rise to fame in 1970s and 1980s New York, did not compete at Cannes and immediately generated controversy. The film, which The Times called “hypnotically seedy,” offers a decidedly unflattering depiction of Trump as a sleazy, cruel social climber who turns his back on his alcoholic brother, rapes his first wife, Ivana (Maria Bakalova), in their New York penthouse apartment and undergoes liposuction and cosmetic surgery for hair loss.
Following the film's release, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung called it “garbage” and “pure fiction” and vowed to file a lawsuit against the filmmakers in an attempt to block its release. “This 'film' is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and does not even deserve a spot in the DVD section of a soon-to-be-closing discount store,” Cheung said in a statement.
At a news conference in Cannes, Abbasi defended his film, saying: “It’s time for movies to be political again.” He dismissed Trump’s threats to block the film. “Everyone talks about how he’s sued a lot of people,” Abbasi said. “But they don’t talk about his success rate.”
Following its Cannes debut, “The Apprentice” found distribution in Canada, Europe and parts of Asia, but the film faced uncertainty in the United States as studios, streaming services and independent distributors were hesitant to incur the wrath of Trump and his supporters. After months of negotiations, however, Briarcliff stepped forward and secured domestic distribution rights to the film.
Telluride traditionally reserves a handful of titles from its schedule each year to add later as surprise screenings, and “The Apprentice” would add more punch to a schedule already loaded with hot-button political issues. This year’s festival is set to draw political heavyweights such as Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, who will be on hand to support the abortion-rights documentary “Zurawski v Texas,” and Democratic strategist James Carville, subject of the new documentary “Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid!”
