Hot-Button Donald Trump Movie ‘The Apprentice’ Still Poised For Pre-Election Release Despite Mediation

The controversial movie Donald Trump doesn’t want people to see is still being lined up for a pre-election release in the U.S.

The Apprentice, which made waves at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, is due for release stateside by Briarcliff, as we first reported. October 11 has been the date we’ve heard for a while now but uncertainty has been fuelled by an ongoing gnarly mediation between the producers and financier Kinematics, which is owned by Trump supporter Dan Snyder who reportedly took umbrage over the film’s depiction of the former POTUS.

The movie is due to roll out internationally from mid-October with dates already set in multiple key markets. Last we heard, Kinematics was being bought out of the movie with its $5M investment back and a premium of around $2M.

For months the plan has been for one or two fall festival stops and expectations have been that the movie will play Telluride.

Directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Gabe Sherman, The Apprentice stars Emmy nominee Sebastian Stan (Pam & Tommy) as Donald Trump, Emmy winner Jeremy Strong (Succession) as the firebrand Roy Cohn, Martin Donovan (Tenet) as Fred Trump Sr, and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) as Ivana Trump.

The film charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Cohn.

Industry watchers were expectant the film would get a U.S. deal soon after its Cannes launch. However, in an election year, threats of legal action from Trump’s team — the film includes a controversial scene in which Trump’s character rapes his former wife Ivana — and a report about the film’s disgruntled financier Snyder, didn’t help progress towards a swift domestic pact.

We previously revealed that Briarcliff was tying up a deal for the movie, whose stars came in for particular praise at Cannes, even prompting awards season speculation. The film’s release campaign is sure to be a fascinating one in the context of the election, which got renewed energy following the Democrats’ switch from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris.

Producers are Daniel Bekerman for Scythia Films, Jacob Jarek for Profile Pictures, Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde for Tailored Films, and Ali Abbasi and Louis Tisné for Film Institute. Executive producers are Amy Baer, Mark H. Rapaport, Emanuel Nunez, Grant S. Johnson, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Thorsten Schumacher, Levi Woodward, Niamh Fagan, Gabriel Sherman, Greg Denny, James Shani, Noor Alfallah, Andy Cohen, Andrew Frank, Neil Mathieson, Lee Broda, Blair Ward, Anders Erdén.

Backers include Kinematics, Head Gear Films, Screen Ireland, Film i Väst, The Danish Film Institute and National Bank of Canada. We hear that Snyder-owned Kinematics was bought out of its share in the movie in addition to a healthy premium.