Hot-Button Trump Flick 'The Apprentice' Acquired by Briarcliff for Pre-Election Release, Awards Campaign (Exclusive)
The Trump origin story, written by Gabriel Sherman and directed by Ali Abbasi, stars Sebastian Stan as the future president and Jeremy Strong as his consigliere Roy Cohn.
The Apprentice, Ali Abbasiâs hot-button film about the young Donald Trump, has been acquired by Tom Ortenbergâs Briarcliff Entertainment for a pre-election U.S. release on Oct. 11, as well as an awards push, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The film was written by Vanity Fairâs longtime Trump chronicler Gabriel Sherman and stars Sebastian Stan as the future president and Jeremy Strong as his one-time consigliere Roy Cohn.
The Trump âorigin storyâ premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, and quickly proved to be a bit of a hot potato. Dan Snyder, the pro-Trump billionaire whose Kinematics company put up equity for the film against domestic rights, reportedly was displeased with the filmâs depiction of Trump and sought to block its release; and the Trump campaign issued legal threats to potential distributors.
In the end, THR has learned, Kinematicsâ interest in the film was bought out, allowing the Briarcliff deal to move forward.
In the relatively brief period between now and Oct. 11, The Apprentice will begin appearing at some fall film festivals, and a full-on awards campaign â something with which Ortenberg is very familiar from his days at Lionsgate overseeing Crash and at Open Road overseeing Spotlight, both of which won the best picture Oscar â is already being organized.
âWhat Abassiâs film reveals most of all is the extent to which the toxicity thatâs now an inescapable part of our contemporary reality was shaped by the unholy alliance between two men half a century ago,â THRâs David Rooney opined in his Cannes review of the film, which received largely positive reviews across the board and now stands at 77 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
