‘The Apprentice’ director shrugs off threat of Trump lawsuit over explosive Cannes biopic

Benjamin DODMAN

22 May 2024 at 8:00 am·1-min read

Filmmaker Ali Abbasi has played down the threat of legal action over his Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice”, which caused a stir at the Cannes Film Festival this week but may struggle to secure a US theatrical release in the run-up to the November 5 presidential election.

A key component of the Cannes experience, the festival’s press conferences are a prime platform for the type of political statement that is strictly banned on the red carpet – and, sometimes, for filmmakers to put their foots in their mouths (think Lars von Trier’s infamous “I’m a Nazi” remark).

On Tuesday, the upcoming US presidential election took centre stage as director Ali Abbasi addressed the press about his explosive biopic “The Apprentice”, responding to a threat of legal action from the Trump campaign.

Abbasi, a Danish-Iranian dual national, referenced von Trier as he defended his “humanistic” take on Trump, who is mired in a hush-money trial in New York even as he gears up for another presidential election in November.

“Remember that these are human beings,” the director said of the characters in his film, which traces Trump’s rise as an ambitious young property developer in 1970s and '80s New York under the sinister mentorship of cutthroat attorney Roy Cohn.

(With AP)

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‘The Apprentice’ director shrugs off threat of Trump lawsuit over explosive Cannes biopic

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