NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� After struggling to drum up interest following its Cannes Film Festival premiere, starring Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump, has found a distributor that plans to release the film shortly before the election in November.
Briarcliff Entertainment will release 鈥淭he Apprentice鈥� on Oct. 11 in U.S. and Canadian theaters, just weeks before on Nov. 5.
Director Ali Abbasi, the Danish Iranian filmmaker, had prioritized getting 鈥淭he Apprentice鈥� into theaters before voters head to the polls. After larger studios and film distributors , Abbasi complained in early June on X that 鈥渇or some reason certain power people in your country don鈥檛 want you to see it!!!鈥�
Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, in a statement Friday called the film's release 鈥渆lection interference by Hollywood elites right before November.鈥�
鈥淭his 鈥榝ilm鈥� is pure malicious defamation, should never see the light of day, and doesn鈥檛 even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire,鈥� Cheung said.
Part of what dampened interest in 鈥淭he Apprentice鈥� was the potential threat of legal action. After its Cannes premiere in May, Cheung called the movie 鈥減ure fiction鈥� and said the Trump team would file a lawsuit 鈥渢o address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers.鈥�
鈥淭he Apprentice鈥� chronicles Trump鈥檚 rise to power in New York real estate under the tutelage of defense attorney (played by Jeremy Strong). Late in the movie, Trump is depicted raping his wife, Ivana Trump (played by ). In Ivana Trump鈥檚 1990 divorce deposition, . Trump denied the allegation and Ivana Trump later said she didn鈥檛 mean it literally, but rather that she had felt violated.
Abbasi has argued Trump might not dislike the movie.
鈥淚 would offer to go and meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the movie, have a screening and have a chat afterwards, if that鈥檚 interesting to anyone at the Trump campaign,鈥� Abbasi said in May.
Briarcliff Entertainment has released films including the 2022 documentary 鈥淕abby Giffords Won't Back Down鈥� and the Liam Neeson thriller 鈥淢emory.鈥� The indie distributor is run by Tom Ortenberg, who at Lionsgate helped released Michael Moore's 鈥淔ahrenheit 9/11鈥� and as chief executive of Open Road backed the best picture Oscar winner 鈥淪potlight.鈥�
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
