Donald Trump criticizes “Apprentice” film: “Disgusting hatchet job”

In a Truth Social post Sunday night, the Republican presidential candidate wrote, “A fake and classless movie about me called The Apprentice (Do they even have the right to use that name without permission?) will hopefully ‘bomb.’ It is a cheap, defamatory and politically disgusting hatchet job carried out just before the 2024 presidential election to damage the greatest political movement in our country’s history: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

The Ali Abbasi-directed film, starring “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” star Sebastian Stan as Trump and “Succession” actor Jeremy Strong as his mentor Roy Cohn, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was released in theaters on Friday.

Trump’s post added: “My former wife Ivana was a kind and wonderful person, and I had a great relationship with her until her death. The author of this pile of garbage, Gabe Sherman, a lowly and untalented scribbler who was largely discredited for a long time, knew this but ignored it.

“So sad that HUMAN SCUM, just like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want to harm a political movement far larger than any of us. MAGA2024!”

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In one of the film’s most controversial scenes, Trump sexually assaults his then-wife Ivana (played by Maria Bakalova).

The alleged rape that Ivana Trump recanted in 2015 was taken from a court deposition “that Ivana gave under oath during her divorce in 1990,” screenwriter Gabriel Sherman told USA TODAY. According to The Daily Beast, Ivana Trump said in the 1993 book “Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump” that she and Trump “had marital relationships in which he behaved toward me very differently than he did during our marriage ” and ” I called this ‘rape,’ but I don’t want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”

Earlier this year, Trump’s campaign threatened to sue the filmmakers, calling “The Apprentice” “pure fiction that sensationalizes long-debunked lies.”

In its opening weekend, “The Apprentice” grossed $1.58 million at the domestic box office, landing at No. 10 behind titles such as “Terrifier 3” (which opened at No. 1), “Joker: Folie à Deux” (No. 3). ) and the 1993 re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas (No. 9), according to Box Office Mojo.

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“The Apprentice” is described as “a candid account of Donald Trump’s rise to power” in the 1970s and 1980s that “offers an unfiltered look at Trump’s complicated and often unseemly journey.”

Abbasi has previously expressed interest in speaking to Trump and showing him the film. In a post responding to Trump on X, formerly Twitter, Abbasi took the same stance.

“Thank you for reaching out to us, @realDonaldTrump. I am available for further discussions if you wish,” Abbasi wrote on Monday. “Today is a tough day with a lot of press for #TheApprentice, but maybe I can give you a call tomorrow.”

In a recent interview with USA TODAY, Abbasi explained why he believes the biopic is so polarizing.

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After long delays, the film will hit theaters on October 11th. Donald Trump’s team has announced that it will file a lawsuit over the biopic.

“The whole idea was to humanize these people,” he said. The result: “We get both sides: One side says it’s too nice to him, the other says it’s too mean.” I don’t want to make propaganda for Trump, but I don’t want to make a hit piece either. I cannot allow the politics of the day to dictate our artistic agenda.”

“The Apprentice” spans several decades in the former president’s life and begins with a young Trump working for his father Fred’s real estate company. He dreams of opening a luxury hotel in Manhattan, but first goes door to door and collects rent. He meets Cohn, who initially helps the Trumps in court and then becomes a mentor to the aspiring real estate tycoon.

Trump heeds Cohn’s advice (there are only two types of people in the world, “murderers” and “losers”), and his hotel business booms, making him a power player in Manhattan.

However, there is a twist and the film focuses on how Donald’s confidence and his cruelty prevail. He cheats on his wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova), rapes her in one of the film’s most disturbing scenes, and avoids his mentor as Cohn falls ill and eventually dies of AIDS.

Contributor: Brian Truitt