‘The Apprentice’ to Premiere at Cannes Fest First Look
Acclaimed Iranian-Danish director Ali Abassi’s biopic will screen in the fest’s main competition, starring Sebastian Stan as a young Trump and ‘Succession’s’ Jeremy Strong as mentor Roy Cohn.
A fictionalized version of Donald Trump, The Apprentice, is heading to Cannes.
The prestigious French film festival unveiled its 2024 official film selection Thursday in Paris, and Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abassi’s The Apprentice was among the titles in the main competition.
The biopic drama stars Sebastian Stan as Trump and explores his career as an aspiring real estate tycoon in the New York City of the 1970s and 1980s.
The film is described as a mentor-protégé narrative about the start of an American dynasty, tackling themes including power, corruption, and deception.
It delves into the relationship between Trump and Roy Cohn, the New York City prosecutor oft-remembered for working with Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Second Red Scare.
Succession star Jeremy Strong appears opposite Stan in the co-starring role of Cohn.
Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova, known for her breakthrough performance in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, plays Ivana Trump.
Vet character actor Martin Donovan is Donald’s father Fred Trump.
The producers’ released a still giving a first look at the film on Thursday, following the Cannes announcement. The image shows an intense Strong staring at a spooked-looking young Trump.
Born in Iran, Abbasi has been based in Denmark, where he studied filmmaking, since the mid-2000s. His first feature, Shelley, art-house horror movie, premiered at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.
He unveiled his second film, Border, at Cannes in 2018, winning the Un Certain Regard section. The movie was later selected as Sweden’s entry to the Oscars in the best foreign-language film category.
His most recent feature, Holy Spider, a harrowing thriller about a real-life serial killer who targeted sex workers in Iran, was elevated to Cannes main competition in 2022.
The film’s star, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, won the festival’s best actress award, and the film was picked as Denmark’s official Oscar entry, making the shortlist.
Stan’s career has been on the rise in recent years, but he has some outsized shoes to fill in inhabiting The Donald. The actor earned an Emmy nomination for his role as drummer Tommy Lee in Hulu’s bio miniseries Pam & Tommy opposite Lily James as Pamela Anderson.
His other work includes this year’s Sony film Dumb Money, the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and the 2017 fact-based movie I, Tonya.
Producers of The Apprentice are Daniel Bekerman of Scythia Films, Jacob Jarek of Profile Pictures and Ruth Treacy of Taylored Films.
Executive producing are Sherman, Grant Johnson and Amy Baer, in association with financier Kinematics, which is led by founder and CEO Mark Rapaport and president Emanuel Nuñez.
