By Even before his conviction on multiple felony crimes yesterday, former U.S. President Donald Trump was the topic of much talk not just for his court case and re-election campaign but also for a film.
That film is “The Apprentice,” the Cannes-premiering feature starring Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump in the 1980s as he is mentored by infamous lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong).
Helmed by acclaimed Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi (“Border,” HBO’s “The Last of Us”), the film was met with good reviews and controversy over a sexual assault scene involving his then-wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova). Trump has reportedly vowed to sue the filmmakers.
Now, new reports in both Puck and Variety indicate that the film is struggling to find a U.S. distributor as all the major studios and streamers have effectively passed on it.
Puck says the three major U.S.-based streaming services (Netflix, Apple, Amazon) are “declining to engage seriously on the movie” for the moment. Also seemingly not bidding are Searchlight, Focus Features, Sony Pictures Classics, A24, Neon, Lionsgate and HBO.
Both trades speculate the main reason is fear of backlash as “releasing the movie could land them on Trump’s bad side”. Another reason is said to be they don’t want to “risk alienating a substantial part of the country”.
A further complication is the film’s investor, billionaire Dan Snyder, must approve any sale. Snyder was reportedly furious with the portrayal after screening a cut of the movie in February.
The film currently sits at 78% (6.9/10) on Rotten Tomatoes from approximately 41 reviews.
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