Despite threats of legal action from former President Donald Trump, the controversial biopic The Apprentice has reportedly landed a U.S. distributor and is set to hit cinemas less than a month before the presidential election.
The Apprentice will be released October 11 by Briarcliff Entertainment, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter. Briarcliff will also promote the movie for awards consideration, including actor Sebastian Stan, who plays a young Donald Trump.
It remains unclear how wide The Apprentice will open, though given its indie nature, a limited release is likely.
Briarcliff Entertainment appears to be trying to inflict as much media damage on former President Donald Trump as possible heading into November’s election. While the movie itself likely won’t be seen by many people, the news media coverage leading up to the release will no doubt be extensive.
The Apprentice has generated controversy since its splashy world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, where it failed to win any prizes or score a domestic distribution deal. The fictionalized movie follows Trump during his rise to power during the 70s and early 80s, focusing on his relationship with Roy Cohn (Succession star Jeremy Strong).
One scene shows Donald Trump raping his wife Ivanka Trump — a claim Ivanka Trump publicly denied. Other scenes show Donald Trump undergoing plastic surgery.
As Breitbart News reported, lawyers for former President Donald Trump have sent a cease and desist letter to the filmmakers of The Apprentice in an effort to block the movie’s release, warning the producers not to pursue a domestic distribution deal.
Earlier, the Trump campaign threatened to sue the makers of The Apprentice following its Cannes premiere.
“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, “This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.”
Cheung also called the movie “malicious defamation.”
The Apprentice was financed outside the Hollywood studio system, primarily by overseas producers as well as some domestic investors.
One of those domestic investors was the production company Kinematics. Billionaire Dan Snyder, who is a Trump supporter, has ties to Kinematics and was reportedly blocking the movie’s domestic release after being unhappy with the final result.
But THR reported that Kinematics’ stake in the movie was bought out.
The Apprentice was directed by Iranian-born filmmaker Ali Abbasi, who denounced Trump during the movie’s Cannes screening. Vanity Fair reporter Gabriel Sherman wrote the screenplay.
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