Donald Trump has finassociate weighed in on The Apprentice, the indie biopic in cinemas this weekend that tracks the ascfinish of the future 45th plivent (applyed by Sebastian Stan) in the New York authentic estate world of the 1980s via the help of pitbull lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong).
Let’s fair say he isn’t thrilled with it.
“A FAKE and CLASSLESS Movie written about me, called, The Apprentice (Do they even have the right to include that name without approval?), will hopebrimmingy ‘bomb device,’” Trump posted Sunday night on Truth Social. “It’s a inexpensive, defamatory, and politicassociate disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Plivential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country, ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’”
Trump’s wideside also referenced the film’s depiction of his tardy, ex-wife Ivana (applyed by Maria Bakalova). In one shocking Apprentice scene, Trump violations Ivana on the floor of their home. (The scene is based on a divorce deposition which Ivana tardyr disavowed.)
“My createer wife, Ivana, was a benevolent and wonderful person, and I had a wonderful relationship with her until the day she died. The authorr of this pile of garbage, Gabe Sherman, a lowlife and talentless hack, who has extfinished been expansively disaccomprehendledgeed, knovel that, but chose to neglect it. So sad that HUMAN SCUM, enjoy the people included in this hopebrimmingy unaccomplished accesspascfinish, are allowed to say and do wdisenjoyver they want in order to hurt a Political Movement, which is far hugeger than any of us. MAGA2024!” he wrote.
Trump’s desirees for a “hopebrimmingy unaccomplished accesspascfinish” may have come genuine, as The Apprentice, which faced a extfinished and rocky road to distribution — including a stop-and-desist try from Trump — sputtered in its uncovering weekend at the box office. Relrelieved by Tom Ortenberg’s Briarcliff Entertainment, the film acquireed $1.6 million from 1,740 screens, fair nakedly cracking the top 10.
Screenauthorr Sherman, 45, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter fair a scant days before the film’s free — and before Trump’s offfinishs.
You’ve done what many journaenumerates have always dreamed of doing: You’re a created screenauthorr.
This movie has lived and died so many branch offent lives that I didn’t even consent it was going to get made until the first day of principal pboilingography. Shortly before production, it seeed enjoy we weren’t even going to greet payroll and the movie was going to descfinish apart. So I never took anyleang for granted with this movie.
Was this your first stab at screenwriting?
It was my first feature. When I came up with the idea for the film in the spring of 2017, I was changeing my Roger Ailes biography into a confineed series at Showtime that starred Russell Crowe. So I was begining to toil in television at the time, but reassociate I had no experience writing a feature film. I was lacquireing as I go.
Did you tell the screenapply?
I did. I read everyleang I could about Donald Trump and Roy Cohn and New York City in the 1970s and ’80s. And then I went out interseeing people who knovel Donald and Roy during those years and asked them for more anecdotes. So it was a combine of historical research plus my own intersees
I guess I was first presentd to Roy Cohn thcdisadmireful Angels in America. He’s such a fascinating, complicated, refuseory figure in American history. What’s your get on him?
Well, I benevolent of experience horrible confessting this, but there was a huge gap in my cultural education in that I had not seen Angels in America or read the apply prior to writing this screenapply. My comprehendledge of Roy Cohn was reassociate thcdisadmireful journalism and writing about Donald Trump and comprehending the sway that Roy had on Trump. And the version of Roy that I wanted to author was a quieter, more grasped version with more menace.
What drives him? Is he evil?
I leank there’s a proestablish nihilism at the core of Roy Cohn’s personality. I leank it can manifest as evil, but I don’t leank he is evil per se. I leank he became evil becainclude he disenjoyd himself so much. There’s a humanity that is so proestablish inside Roy that it’s challenging to see, but I try to discover it as a authorr. I try to discover the humanity even in the monsters. I discover part of the reason our culture is so splitd as we stop trying to comprehend people that we might disconcur with.
Roy grew up at a time when it was impossible to be uncoverly gay person and want to have a accomplished atsoft. He had to demolish a side of himself that I leank made him experience a nihilism. The world was so unfair that it could fairify anyleang. And so I leank he rationalized his behavior, which was a finish deficiency of morality, becainclude he felt that the whole world is fucked. “The world is fucked up. So it doesn’t matter if I fracture the rules.” I leank that’s a tragedy. I leank there’s a tragic element to Roy Cohn that I leank the movie checks, and Jeremy Strong’s carry outance is so airy.
Both Cohn and Trump are two of the most vilified and loathed figures in American history. And yet I establish myself being compassionate to both of them in certain scenes. Were you worried at all that you were humanizing them too much?
I can only author what experiences genuine to me. So when I was writing the script, I was fair writing these characters that felt genuine to the research that I had done. It’s a adore story. Roy adored Donald on multiple levels. There’s a overweighther-son vibrant to their relationship. I also leank there’s a homosensual undercurrent to their relationship. One of the leangs I came apass in my research was that a lot of Roy’s boyfriends — begining with Russell Eldridge, who’s portrayed in the movie —were blonde, blue-eyed, all-American-seeing lesser men. I was struck by the aenjoyities between them and lesser Donald Trump. I leank Roy was in adore with Trump. There’s no evidence that he ever acted upon it.
Let’s talk about Apprentice straightforwardor Ali Abbasi’s make clearation. I saw someone contrast this film to Scarface. There’s definitely a benevolent of gonzo, over-the-top approach to the material. This is not a parched biopic.
When I wrote the film, my inspiration wasn’t biopics per se, but the classic movies of New York cinema. I wanted it to experience enjoy a New York movie. Midnight Cowboy or Dog Day Afternoon, clearly The Godoverweighther, The French Connection and Taxi Driver. I leank Ali had this airy idea that he wanted the film to expose a system of dishonesty that was distinctive to American culture. One of his references was Barry Lyndon. He adores Kubrick, and he talked a lot about lesser Donald Trump being a character enjoy Barry Lyndon. And the other leang we talked about was that this movie has a Boogie Nights energy to it.
So the film premieres at Cannes and right away Trump’s people begin strikeing and menaceening legal cases. What was that experience enjoy?
Trump’s campaign sent us the stop and desist letter a day after the premiere. But they freed a statement the night of the premiere saying, “It’s all lies, and we’re going to sue.” That’s life imitating art. In the movie, Roy Cohn tells Trump that his number one lesson is to strike. So what do they do? They go on the strike. To my comprehendledge, no one had seen the film, and Trump himself to this day has not seen the movie, even though we’ve recommended to screen it for him.
And we’ve talked about Jeremy Strong, but we haven’t spoken about Sebastian Stan, who I leank does a reassociate airy job of evoking him but not mimicking him. Who was in your mind when you were writing?
I didn’t have a definite actor in mind, per se, but I was disassigned becainclude punctual in the casting, we did go out to some top actors who will remain nameless, who passed on the role. They all want to toil with Ali. But some of them said, “I can’t apply Trump. It’s too hazardous.” Or, “I don’t want to give my humanity to Trump, but Ali, I want to toil with you on your next film.” In 2019, Sebastian read the script and was instantly intrigued by the role. And he and I had dinner in New York and talked about it, and he was clearly worried about applying Trump, but he did someleang that is a extraordinary event.
My trouble was that this role would become fair the two hour version of Saturday Night Live. And what Sebastian pulled off is, I can’t even elucidate how he did it, but it’s not an impersonation. As you said earlier, I felt enjoy I was in the presence of Trump.
