Donald Trump is trying to block the release of The Apprentice, and now the producers of the film are firing back.
“The film is a fair and balanced portrait of the former president,” the producers of the biopic said in a statement to ET. “We want everyone to see it and then decide.”
As first reported by Variety, the former president’s legal team sent a cease and desist to the filmmakers behind the biopic warning them not to pursue a distribution deal. The film has generated a ton of buzz for a couple of reasons, the first of which is that the Ali Abbasi-directed film includes Trump raping his first wife, the late Ivana Trump, who died in July 2022 as a result of suffering “blunt impact injuries of the torso.” The former couple, who wed in 1977 and divorced in 1992, shared three children — Donald Jr., 46, Ivanka, 42, and Eric, 40.
According to CBS News, Ivana used the word “rape” to describe a sexual encounter between her and Trump when she gave a deposition during her and Trump’s divorce in 1990. In the years that followed, Ivana walked back the rape accusation, telling CBS News in 2015 that she made the allegation “at a time of very high tension during my divorce from Donald.”
Secondly, The Apprentice generated a ton of buzz on Monday during its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film — staring Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova and Jeremy Strong — received nearly a 10-minute standing ovation.
According to Deadline, the crowd was uproarious for as long as 11 minutes — although other outlets report the applause went on for closer to eight minutes — with Abbasi bowing and even purportedly FaceTiming Strong, who is in New York for his Broadway play, An Enemy of the People.
Back in April, fans first got a look at Stan’s radical transformation into 1980s-era Donald Trump.
“The Apprentice is an exploration of power and ambition set in a world of corruption and deceit. It’s a mentor-protege story that charts the origins of an American dynasty. Filled with larger than life characters, it reveals the moral and human cost of a culture defined by winners and losers,” read a statement about the film when Stan’s casting was announced.
The former president is not short on legal battles at the moment. He’s currently facing 91 criminal charges in four different courtrooms. In New York, he is accused of falsifying business records. In Washington, D.C., and Georgia, he is charged with allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump is also facing federal trial in Florida, after a grand jury brought 40 felony counts against Trump related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents after his presidency. Also named in the case are Trump’s personal aide and valet, Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago maintenance chief Carlos De Oliveira. The judge in that case has indefinitely suspended the case.
Trump is charged separately for each of 32 documents under the Espionage Act, while the other eight charges include making false statements and engaging in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. All three men have pleaded not guilty to all charges against them. The case marks the first federal indictment of a former U.S. president.
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