Ali Abbasi — the director of the Trump biopic The Apprentice — engaged in a profane social media tirade Monday, expressing frustration that his movie has so far failed to find a distributor.
Responding to the recent string of Hollywood box-office bombs, Ali Abbasi angrily promoted The Apprentice, saying it’s “not a fucking sequel nor is it a fucking remake.”
He added: “For some reason certain power [sic] people in your country don’t want you to see it!!!”
We have a new proposition for you. Its not a fucking sequel nor is it a fucking remake. Its called #The_Apprentice and for some reason certain power people in your country don’t want you to see it!!! https://t.co/EMoptrEqCP
— Ali Abbasi (@_aliabbasi_) June 3, 2024
As Breitbart News reported, The Apprentice left this year’s Cannes Film Festival empty-handed, with no U.S. distribution deal following former President Donald Trump’s threat of a lawsuit as well as a cease-and-desist demand against the filmmakers.
In addition, the movie failed to win any prizes at Cannes.
The Apprentice garnered an enormous amount of media attention at this year’s festival, particularly for its scene depicting Trump raping his first wife, Ivana. The movie also shows Trump undergoing plastic surgery and liposuction.
Ivana Trump herself denied that her then-husband ever raped her.
Following the Cannes premiere, Trump’s campaign threatened to sue the filmmakers.
“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,” the Trump campaign’s chief spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. “This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.”
He also called the film “malicious defamation.”
Lawyers for Trump also sent a cease-and-desist letter to director Ali Abbasi and screenwriter Gabriel Sherman, warning them against pursuing a distribution deal.
The legal action has had a chilling effect on the movie’s commercial prospects.
The four major streamers — Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, and Apple — have all passed on the title, as have specialty theatrical labels Searchlight, Sony Pictures Classics, Focus, A24, HBO, and Lionsgate, according to a report from Puck.
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