What Donald Trump Has Said About New Biopic Movie The Apprentice

Ali Abbasi’s new film, The Apprentice, is a biographical drama about Donald Trump in the 1970s, raising questions about the presidential nominee’s thoughts on the movie. The Apprentice cast is led by Sebastian Stan, who plays a young version of Donald Trump, with the film exploring his early days in the business world in the 1970s under the guidance of New York City prosecutor Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). After premiering at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in May, The Apprentice was released in theaters in October 2024.

With its October 11th release date, The Apprentice hit theaters less than a month before the 2024 election, a likely strategic choice. While The Apprentice reviews have been mostly positive, its interpretation of a major contemporary political figure makes it an inherently divisive release. Positioning the movie just before the election, while Donald Trump’s life is already being more carefully examined than ever, has added fuel to the conversation, with the former president himself tuning in.

Donald Trump’s Campaign Says The Apprentice Is “Blatantly False”

Trump’s Campaign Has Verbally Attacked The Apprentice And Discouraged Audiences From Seeing It

Following the Cannes Film Festival’s screening of The Apprentice, Donald Trump’s reelection campaign responded with immediate fury and threats (via Variety). Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung addressed the contents of Abbasi’s film, saying, “This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.” This refers to several controversial moments in the movie, including a violent sexual assault scene, references to Trump abusing amphetamines, and a scene of Trump undergoing plastic surgery to remove a bald spot. Cheung added that the Trump campaign would be filing lawsuits in response to the movie’s claims.

Later in May, Trump’s Dhillon Law Group added to the complaints (via Deadline) with a statement referring to The Apprentice as “a concoction of lies that repeatedly defames President Trump and constitutes direct foreign interference in America’s elections,” also adding threats of a lawsuit. In this case, “foreign interference” refers to the film’s distribution being a joint effort between companies from the United States, Canada, Ireland, and Denmark, a fairly common practice for independent movie releases. The Apprentice producers suggests his movie takes a fair and balanced approach to its portrayal of Donald Trump and the current political situation.

Donald Trump Called The Apprentice Movie A “Politically Disgusting Hatchet Job”

The Former President Has Shared His Thoughts On The Movie

On top of the Trump campaign’s comments on The Apprentice, the presidential candidate himself has revealed his thoughts following its release. On October 14, Trump shared his thoughts on the social media platform, Truth, delivering thoughts consistent with his team. He declared the film to be “FAKE and CLASSLESS,” calling the fact-checking behind The Apprentice to question. While much of the film is supported by reliable sources of information, Trump and his campaign have now both declared it. Read Donald Trump’s full message below:

A FAKE and CLASSLESS Movie written about me, called, The Apprentice (Do they even have the right to use that name without approval?), will hopefully “bomb.” It’s a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” My former wife, Ivana, was a kind and wonderful person, and I had a great relationship with her until the day she died. The writer of this pile of garbage, Gabe Sherman, a lowlife and talentless hack, who has long been widely discredited, knew that, but chose to ignore it. So sad that HUMAN SCUM, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want in order to hurt a Political Movement, which is far bigger than any of us. MAGA2024!

In his social media statement, Donald Trump expresses his hopes that the movie will fail financially, calling it “cheap” and “defamatory.” However, he hasn’t followed up on his campaign’s statement from May about pursuing legal action against the project. Trump also targets Gabe Sherman, a journalist for Vanity Fair and New York magazine who made his feature film writing debut with The Apprentice.

Has Donald Trump Seen The Apprentice Movie?

Trump Has Spoken About The Film, But Who Knows If He’s Actually Seen It?

Donald Trump has released his statement about The Apprentice, but he never actually specifies that he’s seen it. In 2020, Trump was asked about comedian Sarah Cooper’s impersonations of him (via CNN), to which he responded by saying he wouldn’t be interested in seeing negative interpretations of him. It’s possible that he’s taken the word of his campaign and legal team on The Apprentice and wouldn’t actually be into seeing the film.

His tweet highlights the tumultuous relationship depicted between him and his late ex-wife Ivana Trump, but there’s nothing in his message that’s additional to the comments his team has already made. It wouldn’t be a huge stretch of the imagination to suggest Donald Trump hasn’t seen the movie, but it’s just speculation based on his wording. In response to criticism following Cannes in May, Abbasi offered to screen the film for Trump and discuss his interpretation one-on-one (via Variety). Given Abbasi’s recent update, Trump never took him up on the offer.

Ali Abbasi Responded To Trump’s Statement

Following Donald Trump’s statement about The Apprentice, director Ali Abbasi took to X to deliver a response. The filmmaker stated his appreciation for Trump’s review, then offered to “talk further” if the former president was interested. It doesn’t appear that Trump’s team has had any direct contact with Abbasi regarding the matter. Read Abbasi’s full quote from X below:

Back in May, Ali Abbasi stated: “I don’t necessarily think that this is a movie he would dislike,” regarding the former president’s portrayal in The Apprentice. While he does take a more humanistic approach to Donald Trump than previous interpretations, the film is fairly straightforward in comparing the politician and businessman to a monster. Abbasi also suggested to the Cannes audience that “there is no nice metaphorical way to deal with the rising wave of fascism,” so it seems like his thoughts on the matter are pretty clear.

Sources: Variety, Deadline, CNN