The Apprentice, the movie and Donald Trump’s anger over a scathing film about his younger days | premiere in Cannes | Sebastian Stan | WORLD

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It’s not that Trump doesn’t like seeing himself reflected on screen. Before arriving at the White House, he was already a celebrity and was even the host of the successful TV show “The Apprentice” for 14 seasons. She had also appeared under her own name in legendary series and movies. Director Chris Columbus (“Home Alone 2″) and actor Matt Damon revealed the reason years ago. According to them, the former president asked the directors who filmed on his properties to have a small role as a condition. What seems to anger the Republican candidate now is that the portrait of him is unflattering.

In the New York of the 80s where money and power are in the air, “The Apprentice” – which is presented as inspired by real events – shows Trump (Sebastian Stan) as a young man in his twenties who aspires to greatness while spending his days collecting rent from his father’s tenants. He dreams of having his own luxury hotel and being part of the city’s elite from a good position in the real estate sector. Lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) becomes an essential figure in his rise and becomes his mentor. “Deny everything” and “attack, attack, attack” are the mantras with which the young Trump is acquiring despotic and abusive behavior.

The most controversial scene is the one that shows Trump sexually abusing his first wife, Ivana (played by Maria Bakalova), after she belittled him for gaining weight and going bald. In real life, Ivana accused Trump of raping her during her divorce deposition, but she later backtracked and said she had felt violated. She passed away in July 2022.

The director’s invitation

Details of the lawsuit that is planned against the authors of the film are not known. The communications director for Trump’s team, Steven Cheung, limited himself to saying that the film was “pure fiction with a scandal of lies that have been debunked quite some time ago.”

Meanwhile, the director of the film, the Dane of Iranian origin Ali Abbasi, seemed unconcerned. “Everyone talks about Trump suing a lot of people, although they don’t talk about his success rate, you know?” he said this week in Cannes and offered to screen “The Apprentice” for the mogul and talk about it.

“Donald’s team should wait to see the movie before they start suing us,” said Abbasi, who believes he doesn’t necessarily dislike the movie. “I would offer to go meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the film, have a screening and a talk afterwards,” he said.

Abbasi is not afraid to talk about politics. His previous film, “Holy Spider,” showed a serial killer killing women in Iran. Therefore, he was not surprised when, after the premiere of “The Apprentice”, stated that “there is no good metaphorical way to deal with the rising tide of fascism” and that “it is time to make movies relevant. It’s time to make films political again.”

It is a fact that the film will have greater attention and relevance in the electoral context. According to “Variety”, Dan Snyder, former owner of the Washington Commanders and one of the financiers of the work, supposedly already tried to thwart its premiere after seeing a first version.

Abbasi reacts to the issue with humor. “We have an upcoming promotional event called the US elections, which will help us a lot with the film,” he said and even suggested that the film could be released around the date of the second debate between Biden and Trump in mid-September.

The film does not yet have a buyer, but it could hit theaters in the coming months, especially if it wins the Palme d’Or, the highest award that is presented this Sunday the 25th in Cannes. Trump will surely be attentive to that result.