Before setting up his business in the White House, Donald Trump closed a Faustian business deal with his spiritual godfather Roy Cohn in the 1970s. At least, that’s the premise of the anti-state portrait The Apprentice. Sharklike co-stars Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong smell blood and even an Oscar in their monstrous master-apprentice relationship.
Sebastian Stan takes on the pre-orange skin of a young Donald Trump for The Apprentice, named after the game show Trump hosted before his political career. The film, which Trump's supporters tried to halt, follows him during his rise as a real estate businessman in 1970s and 1980s New York. To what extent was he shaped by the widely controversial and ruthless lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn (played by Succession actor Jeremy Strong)? Iranian-Danish director Ali Abbasi is no novice at vicious character studies, as evidenced by Shelley (2016), Gräns (FFG2018) and Holy Spider (FFG2022). This parody biopic, penned by best-selling author Gabriel Sherman, caused a lot of controversy at Cannes. You will find even more American controversy in this year's Classics programme American Dream / American Nightmare.
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Credits
Ali Abbasi
David Holmes, Brian Irvine, Martin Dirkov
Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova
Gabriel Sherman
Kasper Tuxen
Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Olivier Bugge Coutté
Daniel Bekerman, Jacob Jarek, Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde, Louis Tisné, Ali Abbasi
Scythia Films, Profile Pictures, Tailored Films
The Searchers
More info
English
Canada, Ireland, Denmark
2024
