With just a month left until the presidential election, it’s easy to see why a movie like The Apprentice might be even more controversial than it would be otherwise. The film, which tells the story of a young Donald Trump in the 1970s and early 1980s as he studies under lawyer Roy Cohn, was first screened at the Cannes Film Festival, but didn’t have a buyer or a release date until quite recently. Given the movie’s fraught subject matter, and the fact that it’s now being released before the election, it’s easy to see why some major studios might have balked at the idea of acquiring it.
Director Ali Abbasi, though, has a slightly different explanation for why they couldn’t find a buyer.
“It was pretty shocking for me after the reception we got in Cannes,” he said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I understand it from the business perspective of not wanting to have trouble, but we’re not in the business of ice creams. We’re not selling shoes. So yeah, it was shocking.”
Veteran studio executive Tom Ortenberg ultimately purchased the film under his label, Briarcliff Entertainment, and said that he was also surprised that no one else had grabbed the movie. “I’m so disappointed that literally nobody else in Hollywood would distribute The Apprentice,” he said. “It’s shockingly disappointing to me to be living and working in an industry where that’s the case.”
Ortenberg added that “I can’t really speak for others, but my sense is it is in large if not complete part cowardice in the face of Donald Trump. Anybody who claims otherwise, I would probably accuse of fibbing.”
Trump has already threatened a lawsuit over the film, which he claims is defamatory. As The Apprentice details, lawsuits are a core part of Roy Cohn’s legal strategy, so a lawsuit probably shouldn’t come as a surprise.
