CANNES, France (AP) — As Donald Trump’s hush-money trial entered its sixth week in New York, a story about the making of the Republican presidential nominee, a scathing portrait of the former president in the 1980s, premiered Monday at the Cannes Film Festival years revealed.
Sebastian Stan stars as Trump in “The Apprentice” by Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi. The film’s central relationship is between Trump and Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), the defense attorney who served as chief counsel on Joseph McCarthy’s Senate investigation in the 1950s.
Cohn is portrayed as Trump’s long-time mentor, training him in the ruthlessness of New York politics and economics. Early on, Cohn supported the Trump Organization when it was sued by the federal government for racial discrimination in housing.
“The Apprentice,” which is said to be inspired by true events, portrays Trump’s treatment of Cohn as a Faustian bargain that guided his rise as a businessman and later as a politician. Stan’s Trump is initially a rather naive real estate candidate, but he soon changes thanks to Cohn’s training.
The film notably contains a scene in which Trump rapes his wife Ivana Trump (played by Maria Bakalova). In Ivana Trump’s 1990 divorce claim, she alleged that Trump raped her. Trump denied the accusation and Ivana Trump later said she didn’t mean it literally, but that she felt hurt.
These and other scenes make “The Apprentice” a potentially explosive cinematic drama in the midst of the US presidential election. The film is on sale at Cannes, so there is no release date yet.
Variety reported Monday on alleged behind-the-scenes drama surrounding “The Apprentice.” Citing anonymous sources, the trade publication reported that billionaire Dan Snyder, former owner of the Washington Commanders and investor in “The Apprentice,” pressured filmmakers to edit the film because of its portrayal of Trump. Snyder has previously donated to Trump’s presidential campaign.
Neither representatives for the film nor Snyder could immediately be reached for comment.
In press releases for the film, Abbasi, whose previous film “Holy Spider” featured a journalist investigating a serial killer in Iran, said he had not planned to do “a History Channel episode.”
“This is not a biopic about Donald Trump,” Abbasi said. “We’re not interested in every detail of his life from A to Z. We’re interested in telling a specific story through his relationship with Roy and Roy’s relationship with him.”
Regardless of its political implications, “The Apprentice” is likely to be widely discussed as a potential awards contender. Shot in a gritty ’80s aesthetic, the film returns Strong to a New York landscape full of money and power, one year after the end of HBO’s “Succession.” Strong, who is currently starring in “An Enemy of the People” on Broadway, did not attend the Cannes premiere on Monday.
“The Apprentice” is in competition at Cannes and is eligible for the festival’s top honor, the Palme d’Or. In Cannes, filmmakers and actors hold press conferences the day after a film’s premiere. “The Apprentice” press conference will take place on Tuesday.
