Attorneys representing former President Donald Trump have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the producers of the fictionalized biopic The Apprentice, which depicts a younger Trump in an unflattering manner.
Variety reported Friday that the independently produced film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, drew the attention of the Trump legal team due to one scene in particular. That scene reportedly shows Trump sexually assaulting his first wife, Ivana, based on an account she gave in a 1990 divorce deposition that she later retracted in 2015. The cease-and-desist letter warned filmmakers to not seek theatrical distribution in the U.S.
"This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire," said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.
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In an official statement, the producers of The Apprentice insisted that "the film is a fair and balanced portrait of the former president."
"We want everyone to see it and then decide," filmmakers said in response to the cease-and-desist letter.
According to Variety, the film also shows Trump taking amphetamines to lose weight, undergoing plastic surgery and liposuction as well as cutting deals with the mafia to build his real estate empire. Sebastian Stan plays Trump, and Jeremy Strong — known for his Kendall Roy character on the HBO show "Succession" — plays his mob-connected attorney, Roy Cohn.
The film's script was written by Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman, who covered the Trump administration for the outlet. During a press conference at Cannes, Director Ali Abbasi shrugged off the cease-and-desist letter, and added that he doesn't "necessarily think this is a film [Trump] would dislike."
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"Everybody talks about [Trump] suing a lot of people — they don’t talk about his success rate though, you know," Abbasi said.
In addition to the former president's legal team, billionaire Dan Snyder — who helped fund production of the movie assuming it would be a flattering portrayal of Trump — is reportedly "furious" about the final result after a screening in February.
Currently, there is no set date for the film's release in the U.S., and there are no distribution deals in place. However, TIME reported that Abbasi hopes to have the film in American theaters by September, just before early voting begins in the 2024 election.
"We have a promotional event coming up called the U.S. election that’s going to help us with the movie," Abbasi said.
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Click here to read Variety's report in full.
