The Apprentice Filmmaker Responds to Trump Lawsuit Threat

Hours after Ali Abbasi’s Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice premiered at Cannes, the Trump campaign threatened legal action against its filmmakers. Abassi, however, does not seem too concerned with the warning. The Apprentice tells the story of how a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) started his real estate business in the 1970s and 1980s New York with the helping hand of infamous lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). During a press conference at Cannes on Tuesday (via the Guardian), Abassi shared:

“Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people — they don’t talk about his success rate though, you know?”

Abassi was speaking in reference to a statement from Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, who said:

“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers. This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked.”

Cheung went on to say the film was “pure malicious defamation,” and that “it belongs in a dumpster fire.”

Ali Abassi Doesn’t Think Trump Would Necessarily ‘Dislike’ the Apprentice

During the press conference, Abassi also shared that he was open to conversing with the former President of the United States regarding The Apprentice:

“I don’t necessarily think that this is a movie that he would dislike. I don’t necessarily think he would like it. I think he would be surprised. … I would offer to go and meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the movie, have a screening and have a chat afterwards.”

He added:

“Donald’s team should wait (until) they watch the movie before they start suing us.”

The notion that Trump may not dislike the film seems unlikely. Trump friend and campaign donor Dan Snyder’s reaction to the film is one solid indicator. The former owner of the NFL team the Washington Commanders donated money to the film’s production, thinking it would portray the divisive former president in a positive light. After viewing the film in February, he tried to fight its release.

Then there’s that scene. According to various outlets, The Apprentice includes a scene where Trump is shown raping his first wife, Ivana Trump (portrayed by Maria Bakalova). The scene draws from a 1989 incident that was discussed during Donald and Ivana’s divorce proceedings. Ivanna later stated that while she referred to the incident as “rape,” she did not want her “words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”

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But, of course, there’s always a chance. And the chance that Trump may not hate the film would likely come from Stan’s portrayal, which is being celebrated by critics. The Hollywood Reporter’s review states that some “will argue that Stan’s performance in the central role is a touch too likeable.” So, it is possible that Trump may find at least one redeeming quality in Abassi’s biopic.

The Apprentice debuted at Cannes on Monday and was met with a standing ovation. It is written by Gabriel Sherman. While a release date has not been announced, Abassi shared that he hopes the film is released around September, when Trump and President Joe Biden debate (he jokingly called the upcoming US presidential election a “promotional event” for the film).