The Apprentice, Ali Abbasi’s hot-button film about the young Donald Trump, was acquired by Tom Ortenberg’s Briarcliff Entertainment for pre-election U.S. release on October 11, as well as an awards push.

The film was written by Vanity Fair’s longtime Trump chronicler Gabriel Sherman and stars Sebastian Stan as the future president and Jeremy Strong as his one-time consigliere Roy Cohn.

The Trump “origin story” premiered at Cannes Film Fest on May 20, where it proved to be a hot potato.

Dan Snyder, the pro-Trump billionaire whose Kinematics company put up equity for the film against domestic rights, was displeased with the film’s depiction of Trump and sought to block its release.

And the Trump campaign issued legal threats to potential distributors.

Between now and October 11, The Apprentice will screen at some fall film festivals.

 Ortenberg is well familiar with aggressive awards campaigns from his days at Lionsgate overseeing Crash and at Open Road working on Spotlight, both of which won the Best Picture Oscar.

My Oscar Book:

The toxicity, which is now an inescapable part of our contemporary reality, was shaped by the alliance of two men half a century ago

the film received largely positive, but not enthusiastic, reviews across the board and now stands at 77 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.