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NOT MANY FILMS have had a former President of the United States issue a cease and desist letter against its release.
But that’s exactly what happened last summer with Donald Trump and The Apprentice, a biopic of his rise to prominence as a New York real estate mogul in the 1970s and 1980s.
The film debuted to an eight-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival last May. That same week, the filmmakers received the legal letter, which accused them of not only defaming Trump, who by that point was in the midst of his third presidential campaign, but which labelled the film “direct foreign interference in American elections”.
“If you do not immediately cease and desist all distribution and marketing of this libelous farce, we will be forced to pursue all appropriate legal remedies,” it stated.
The film was produced by Daniel Bekerman for Canada’s Scythia Films, Jacob Jarek for Denmark-based Profile Pictures and Irish producers Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde for Tailored Films.
Speaking to The Journal at the Baftas this afternoon, Treacy said that while they always knew that The Apprentice was likely to stir some controversy, it was still a surprise to receive a cease and desist letter from Trump.
Irish producers of Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde, say that although they knew the film was likely to 'stir some controversy', they were still surprised to receive a cease and desist from the US President pic.twitter.com/1Bb2WSgFca
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) February 16, 2025
“Essentially, what it achieved was that it scared off distributors from getting involved in the project for the US, particularly, which was the one territory that we still had to sell,” Treacy said.
“Aside from it deterring distributors, what it also did was essentially created a self censoring atmosphere amongst the general public in the US as well, who kind of felt like maybe they didn’t want to speak out if they liked the film.”
Forde said they were both surprised by this. “I always think the United States is a country that prides itself on freedom of speech, but for us, it was an eye opener that people were scared about what Trump might do, and as a result, were afraid to touch the film.”
But the Irish producers weren’t spooked.
“It did have an impact on the film, but I suppose for the filmmakers, it just made us even more motivated than ever to get it out there before the US election.”
When one of the financiers did not want to replace the film, a buyout was organised, which paved the way for another distributor to come on board.
“It is somewhat of a miracle that it got out there and was as widely seen as it was,” Treacy said.
I know it’s been reported that it hasn’t been a great success, but actually, in our eyes, it certainly has, if people knew what was going on behind the scenes.
The performances of Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong as his notorious attorney and mentor Roy Cohn have been particularly praised. Both actors are up for Baftas for Best Leading Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. The film is also nominated for Best Casting.
Stan’s portrayal of the man that is now one of the most famous – or infamous – characters in the world sees him being taken under the wing of Cohn, who instills in him the characteristics and mentality that we see in Trump today.
“We’re so delighted that both Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan are nominated. Their performances in this film are truly outstanding,” Forde said.
“The way Sebastian follows Donald Trump’s evolution from an aspiring, hopeful, wide-eyed businessman to basically the Trump that we know today is really something to behold. He really plays it excellently, and Jeremy Strang is phenomenal in the film as well. They’re so deserved of the nominations.”
In one scene, Cohn tells him the three rules that will bring him success, which Trump claims as his own near the end of the film, when he’s found said success: ‘Attack, attack, attack. Admit nothing, deny everything. Always claim victory.’
Despite the cease and desist letter, the producers say the film gives an empathetic portrayal of a young Trump for the most part, so much so that the producers think Trump would actually enjoy some parts of it.
“I think he would enjoy a lot of it. Obviously, there’s elements he probably would not enjoy, but overall, I think it’s a really fast-paced, punk rock look at his evolution, and I definitely think there’s elements of it that he’d enjoy,” Treacy said.
“I think it’s important to understand him as a human, to realise how simple it is for someone to come into the position that he’s in today. By following these very simple rules that he was taught by Roy Cohn, he was able to have this huge ascent to power at all costs. He still utilises the same tools in what he does today.”
One controversial scene in the film depicts Trump raping his first wife Ivana. In her divorce deposition in 1989, the late businesswoman claimed that Trump did assault her, though she later walked back the claim.
On including the scene, Treacy said the filmmakers wanted to showcase “the full spectrum of Trump’s behaviour”.
“This is something that [Ivana Trump] did admit to happening. She did say at a later point that she felt violated, but that it wasn’t a criminal situation, but she didn’t fully retract what happened to her,” she said.
It would be remiss of us to make a film about Trump and not deal somewhat with how he treats women.
When you see what’s happened in recent years in terms of the cases that have been taken against him, that was something that we felt was very important as part of his story.”
The film finished production in January 2024. A year later, Trump was back in the White House. His second term has gotten off to a controversial start, with threats to neighbours Canada, much criticised Executive Orders and his comments about taking over Gaza.
“When you look at the film and you see the rules that he lived by back then, and that he clearly still lives by now, it’s unsurprising to us, in some ways, that he is behaving as he is,” Treacy said.
“He’s essentially encompassing the ‘attack, attack, attack’ rule that he does in the film. I think he’s going out strong to try and have a real impact, good or bad.
“Obviously he has a huge mandate for making decisions, because a huge amount of the American public voted for him, so it’s hard to judge what way it’s going to go, but if people thought they were oversaturated with Trump before, it’s only getting worse.”
With the film nominated for three Baftas, as well as two Oscars next month, the producers count themselves lucky to have gotten the film off the ground – but they are still embracing the nominations.
“I think it’s great to be nominated,” Forde said.
“There was a point in time where we were concerned the film would be shunned, so especially to get that acknowledgement from Hollywood, is a huge triumph for the film, and fingers crossed for the Baftas tonight.”
The Baftas will be broadcast on BBC One at 7pm tonight.
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