Exploring ‘The Apprentice’, Ali Abbasi’s new movie about Donald Trump
It was inevitable that Donald Trump would become the subject of a biographical drama, but Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice has decided to forego the conventional route of detailing its subject’s life story in favour of zeroing in on a specific period in the business mogul’s life.
That makes perfect sense, considering Trump has a glittering big-screen career of his own that spans Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Little Rascals, Zoolander, Two Weeks Notice, and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. In addition to all of that, he is a WWE Hall of Famer, the recipient of a Stone Cold Stunner at WrestleMania, and has hosted the titular reality series from which the film derives its title.
Sebastian Stan will embody the orange-faced menace in The Apprentice, which focuses on what’s described as a “Faustian” pact between Trump and noted political fixer Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong. Written by Gabe Sherman, the movie also stars Borat‘s Academy Award nominee Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump – hugely ironic considering what befell Trump’s associate Rudy Giuliani in the Sacha Baron Cohen sequel – with Martin Donovan set as Fred Trump Sr.
Described as a “dive into the underbelly of the American empire,” The Apprentice is guaranteed to spark a wave of reactions covering both ends of the political spectrum given the increasing divisiveness at the heart of American politics, but it could also turn out to be an awards season contender. Abbasi’s latest feature has already been submitted in competition for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but a wide theatrical release date has yet to be announced.
Who was Roy Cohn?
Roy Cohn first gained attention as Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel during the Communist panic of the 1950s. He then evolved into a political fixer in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s, where he ended up mentoring Trump.
When the then-real estate developer began constructing a number of huge projects in Manhattan, the Justice Department slapped him with accusations of violating the Fair Housing Act in 39 separate instances, claiming he’d made false vacancy statements and quoted different terms and conditions to potential African-American clients and tenants.
Cohn represented Trump and countersued the government for $100million, which was ultimately unsuccessful after his protégé settled out of court in 1975. Three years later, the Trump Organisation was litigated again for allegedly violating the terms of the initial settlement, while rumours abounded that Cohn’s ties to criminal figures, including Carmine Galante, Anthony Salerno, and Paul Castellano, allowed Trump Tower to receive concrete for construction while the local unions were on strike.
The pair would remain close until Cohn’s death in August 1986 at the age of 59, but at the time, the IRS had seized almost all of his personal effects and belongings due to the millions he owed. However, he was allowed to keep a pair of diamond cufflinks given to him by Trump, which The New York Times suggested were fakes.
How does the movie relate to the recent Trump fraud trial?
There’s no direct correlation between The Apprentice and the recent Trump trial, although similarities can nonetheless be drawn between his prior courtroom battles with Cohn and the multiple indictments that saw the former reality TV host slapped with 91 charges across four individual criminal cases.
Reading between the lines, it’s not hard to imagine The Apprentice will use the shady goings-on behind closed doors between Trump and Cohn to pass comment and/or judgment on the civil fraud cases the subject is currently dealing with, where he was ordered to pay out over $450million in damages.
What other films has Abbasi directed?
The Apprentice will mark the Hollywood debut of director Ali Abbasi, and diving into the life of a supremely polarising and controversial figure with a high-profile star like Stan in the lead role, making it the biggest movie of his career so far by almost any metric.
2016’s acclaimed dramatic horror Shelley marked his first feature after years spent working in short films, with a childless couple striking a deal with a Romanian maid to be the surrogate for their child, quickly taking a turn for the macabre. 2018’s Border follows a customs officer with an acute sense of smell getting up in a fantastical mystery, while 2022’s Holy Spider gained plenty of notice as an Iranian-set serial killer thriller condemned by the local authorities for its perceived political leanings.