How Canadian co-pro ‘The Apprentice’ overcame Trump’s threats to block film’s release

TORONTO — A controversial film about the rise of Donald Trump is coming out this week, despite his campaign calling it “election interference by Hollywood elites” and threatening to file a lawsuit.

“It makes me giggle a little bit because I definitely don’t feel like a Hollywood elite here in Canada,” said Toronto-based Daniel Bekerman, lead producer of “The Apprentice.”

The movie earned acclaim when it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May, but struggled to find a distributor after facing legal threats from Trump, who took issue with the material. The Canada-Ireland-Denmark co-production, shot in Ontario, hits theatres Friday via domestic distributor Mongrel Media.

The drama directed by Ali Abbasi stars Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump at the beginning of his real estate career under the guidance of infamous New York lawyer Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong. It contains numerous contentious scenes depicting Trump taking diet pills, undergoing scalp-reduction surgery and, most disturbingly, raping his then-wife Ivana Trump, played by Maria Bakalova.

Trump’s lawyers have sent a cease-and-desist letter threatening to sue the movie’s producers and any future distributors.

But Bekerman said the movie is more of a “character study” on Trump rather than a “hit piece” or even a political film.

“We’ve been continually encouraging (Trump’s team) to see the film, including Donald. And who knows, maybe he’d be surprised and enjoy it,” he said in an interview.

“I think a lot of people have said that it’s surprisingly fair to him, even though it doesn’t sugarcoat anything about the story.”

Bekerman said the sexual assault scene was “meticulously researched” and is “a fair representation of what Ivana herself said under oath.”

Ivana, who died in 2022, accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a 1989 divorce deposition. She later clarified her remarks in a 1993 statement, expressing that while she felt “violated” at the time, she did not intend to imply she was raped “in a literal or criminal sense.”

While Trump’s team has yet to take legal action over “The Apprentice,” Bekerman said the threat alone had “a chilling effect” on the film industry, deterring many companies from picking up the movie.

“You have someone powerful like Donald who’s just personally unhappy with his portrayal and he is able to intimidate an industry,” said Bekerman. “So what I’m actually concerned about is an emerging potential culture of fear, where companies simply do not stick their necks out even to tell important truths if it’s going to be too risky.”

Bekerman said “The Apprentice” benefits from having a “distinctly non-American perspective” and being made outside of the Hollywood system.

“I think the American industry is incredibly conservative and incredibly unwilling to take a chance on projects that raise big questions,” he said. “So, I think if you have a bold project with that at its core, it may be better suited to the independent system outside of the U.S.”

Kinematics, a primary financier of the film backed by billionaire Trump supporter Dan Snyder, withdrew from the project in September, citing “creative differences.” Briarcliff Entertainment, headed by veteran studio executive Tom Ortenberg, acquired the title’s U.S. rights from Kinematics.

“It’s heartening to find someone like him, who believes in good storytelling and doesn’t believe in being intimidated by the industry or by threats made from powerful people,” Bekerman said of Ortenberg, who has produced films such as 2015’s “Spotlight,” about the coverup of child abuse within a Catholic archdiocese.

Bekerman added that Mongrel Media had no hesitation picking up the film in Canada and are known for “being bold and supporting storytellers that have their own unique perspective.”

The film’s producers also launched a crowdfunding campaign in September to help with promotional costs, raising more than US$400,000.

Bekerman said he has “no idea” whether a lawsuit from Trump is still on the way, but the former president has ultimately “failed” in blocking the film’s release.

“He’s kind of gone quiet about it as of late. I think he probably knows that he doesn’t want to give it oxygen now,” he said.

And while the film’s release date is certainly timely, Bekerman said the impact it will have on the upcoming U.S. election is “entirely unpredictable.” Still, he hopes it will give voters a more complete picture of Trump.

“What we’re trying to do with this film is understand how we got here and really look behind the curtain at how this persona of a character named Donald Trump got created,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.

Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press