Donald Trump’s attorneys have reportedly sent a cease and desist letter to the producers of The Apprentice, seeking to prevent the unauthorized biopic from gaining a release in the United States.
The film, directed by Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi, stars Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump and Succession’s Jeremy Strong as his mentor, the lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn.
The biopic reportedly contains a number of unflattering scenes involving Trump, including him using drugs and getting cosmetic surgery.
Most controversially, the film shows Trump raping his first wife Ivana.
In a 1989 divorce deposition, Ivana accused Trump of raping her, but she later disavowed the allegation.
The Apprentice premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 20 May, and its producers are currently seeking a distribution deal.
However, Variety reports that Trump’s legal team have warned them in the new cease and desist letter not to pursue such a deal.
In a statement to The Independent, Trump campaign chief spokesperson Steven Cheung said: “We filed a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers.
“This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked.
“This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t 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.”
The producers of The Apprentice told Variety in a statement: “The film is a fair and balanced portrait of the former president. We want everyone to see it and then decide.”
The Independent has approached the film’s producers for further comment.
Billionaire Dan Snyder, former owner of NFL team the Washington Commanders, gave the film financial backing through production company Kinematics under the impression that it would be a flattering portrayal of Trump’s rise in real estate. He is reportedly “furious” about the final film.
At a Cannes press conference for The Apprentice, Abbasi responded to Trump’s legal threats by saying: “Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people – they don’t talk about his success rate though, you know?”
He added that he would be open to screening the movie for Trump, saying, “I don’t necessarily think that this is a movie he would dislike.”
