“The Apprentice,” a biopic about the rise of a young Donald J. Trump which is looking for a distributor in the US after premiering on the Cannes Movie Pageant in Could, is about to hit theaters this fall.
The movie is slated for an Oct. 11 launch — forward of the Nov. 5 presidential election — by Briarcliff Leisure, a distributor based by Tom Ortenberg, who produced “Spotlight” and “W.” The information was confirmed by two individuals conversant in the negotiations.
The Apprentice, which was directed by Iranian director Ali Abbasi and written by journalist Gabriel Sherman, obtained mostly positive reviews in Cannes. However the challenges began nearly instantly when the former president threatened to sueas his marketing campaign spokesman denounced the movie as “malicious defamation.”
One of many movie’s unique financiers, Kinematics, finally tried to promote its stake in “The Apprentice,” which is called after the tv program Mr. Trump has lengthy hosted. (Daniel Snyder, a backer of that firm and former proprietor of the Washington Commanders, is a pal of Mr. Trump.)
A number of Hollywood studios — together with Focus Options, Sony, Searchlight, Netflix, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Amazon’s Prime Video and A24 — refused to take the filmwith some fearful that audiences on either side of the political spectrum would possibly discover causes to keep away from it. Then Mr. Ortenberg, who has a historical past of defending polarizing dishes — together with Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” — jumped into the fray.
The Hollywood Reporter previously reported the Briarcliff deal.
“The Apprentice” stars Sebastian Stan (“Avengers: Finish”) as Mr. Trump and “Inheritance” star Jeremy Sturdy as his former mentor Roy Cohn. Briarcliff is anticipated to stage a season-long awards marketing campaign for each.
