The Apprentice Director Says Americans Are Too Scared Of Donald Trump
It isn’t often that a United States Presidential Election occurs at nearly the exact same time that a controversial biopic about one of the candidates hits the big screen. But these are crazy times, and that’s exactly what’s happening with The Apprentice, a movie detailing some of Donald Trump’s early business life. But at least one person thinks the movie wasn’t made sooner because Americans are afraid of Trump.
Scared Of Donald Trump?
There is plenty of controversy surrounding the movie already with the films marketing team dialing up a bit of trolling towards the former and maybe future President of the United States.
And with that, The Apprentice’s director, Ali Abbasi, had some not-so-subtle words about the American people and their (in his view) unwillingness to make this kind of movie about Trump.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Abbasi outlined some of the hurdles the movie went through since the time of its inception and how they had trouble finding folks in the industry willing to do business.
Abbasi said, “My calculation was that the Americans didn’t have the balls to do this movie themselves — and I didn’t really turn out to be wrong.”
Hurting Filmmakers Careers?
Abbasi continued that the issue in making The Apprentice wasn’t even so much Donald Trump-related as much as doing political films in general doesn’t always have the right kind of upside. In fact, quite different. They can harm filmmakers’ careers.
He said, “…but everyone in this industry knows it’s generally not helpful to your career to do a political film here. So, no one else wanted to do it, and I thought it was important that someone try.”
A Donald Trump Biopic
The Apprentice is the upcoming Donald Trump biopic detailing the early business life of the real estate tycoon, reality television celebrity, and eventual President. The movie focuses on the 1970s and 1980s timeline of Trump’s career specifically centered around his relationship with Roy Cohn, the famed investor. In this way, Trump is the apprentice in the relationship.
Incredible Reception So Far
Sebastian Stan takes on the role of Donald Trump, and Jeremy Strong plays Cohn. Others in the cast include Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump and Martin Donovan as Fred Trump, Donald’s father.
The movie received incredible reviews when it was first released at Cannes, though there were controversial pieces to the film that made finding distribution a bit tricky. Namely, there are scenes of drug use and even sexual assault on the part of Trump. All of these pieces were said to be part of public record thanks to Trump’s divorce proceedings.
The Apprentice Did A Little Trolling
And The Apprentice has even done its own bit of viral marketing. The team flew a plane over a Trump rally in Reading, Pennsylvania with a banner that said “Trump Go See The Apprentice Friday”.
That date is relevant, considering that The Apprentice is set to hit theaters on October 11th in the United States and Canada. So, was Abbasi right to say that Americans were too scared to make a movie like this? Maybe, but they are getting it anyway and there is sure to be a lot of talk about it as it hits theaters.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
