The Apprentice: Ali Abbasi's Trump biopic premieres at Cannes, hits theaters October 17

Ali Abbasi's film 'The Apprentice' premiered in the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024 and will be released in Italian theaters on October 17 via BIM Distribuzione. The cast includes Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump, Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, and Maria Bakalova. The film follows a young Donald Trump in 1970s New York as he emerges from his father's shadow to make a name in Manhattan real estate, mentored by the controversial lawyer Roy Cohn, who teaches him tactics of deception, intimidation, and media manipulation. Abbasi, born in Tehran and raised between Sweden and Denmark, co-wrote the script with American political journalist Gabriel Sherman. The director describes the film as a tragicomedy without heroes or villains, a conventional yet cynical biographical narrative. Sebastian Stan prepared for the role by studying Trump's speech patterns and movements, with Abbasi noting that a 10% deviation would have turned it into parody or failed to evoke the person. Jeremy Strong, known for 'Succession', called the film a love story between a teacher and a student, comparing its arc to 'Midnight Cowboy'.