Trump film “The Apprentice” hits US cinemas before the election

The ApprenticeThe new film by director Ali Abbasis about a young Donald Trump, played by Sebastian Stan, is scheduled to hit theaters in the US in October. According to The Hollywood ReporterThe film was acquired by distributor Briarcliff Entertainment and is scheduled to be released on October 11th.

This is despite Trump and his supporters actively trying to prevent the film from being released in the United States. After the film's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, billionaire Dan Snyder was so unhappy with the film's negative portrayal of Trump that he tried to prevent the film from being released in theaters in the United States.

Snyder was able to do this because he indirectly financed the film. As Deadline now reports, his company Kinematics has since been “bought out of his share of the film in addition to a hefty premium,” meaning Snyder no longer has any say in the film's release.

The Apprenticewhich also stars Jeremy Strong as the infamous Roy Cohn and Martin Donovan as Trump's father Fred Trump Sr., received mostly positive reviews. However, critics pointed out that the film contains a controversial rape scene between Trump and his first wife Ivana (Borat – Episode 1 Star Maria Bakalova, who had previously fallen out of favor with Rudy Giuliani).

It is this scene in particular, which is based on a true accusation that Ivana Trump made against her husband and later retracted, that seems to have triggered the legal threats from Trump's campaign team.

“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false claims made by these alleged filmmakers,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told the Daily Beast in May. “This garbage is pure fiction that inflates lies that have long been disproven.”

Chueng added: “This 'film' is pure malicious slander, should not see the light of day and does not even deserve a place in the DVD section of a bargain table in a soon-to-be-closed discount film store. It belongs in a dumpster.”

And yet, before its release in US theaters, the film is now set to premiere at several film festivals this fall, sparking a rush to the Oscars, where it could compete in several categories next spring.

Director Ali Abbasi posted on X on Friday morning, reacting to the news: “I am so excited to show the film to its domestic audience!!! America, here we come.”