‘The Apprentice’ director Ali Abbasi responds to Trump diss: ‘I am available to talk further if you want’
After former President Donald Trump trashed “The Apprentice” on Monday morning, director Ali Abbasi said he would be happy to chat with Trump – provided the filmmaker could find room in his busy schedule.
Earlier Monday, Trump, the current Republican nominee for President of the United States, posted a scathing rebuke of “The Apprentice” on his Truth Social account.
“A FAKE and CLASSLESS Movie written about me, called, ‘The Apprentice’ (Do they even have the right to use that name without approval?), will hopefully ‘bomb,’” Trump wrote. “It’s a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country, ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’”
The former reality television host took severe issue with the film, which was written by Gabriel Sherman and stars Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as his former mentor Roy Cohn. In particular, Trump was outraged by a scene where the Trump character in the film is shown sexually assaulting his then-wife, Ivana Trump (played onscreen by Maria Baklova). The sequence has been controversial since “The Apprentice” premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and its origins stem from the Trumps’ 1990 divorce proceedings. When the rape claim was resurfaced in 2015, Ivana denied the accusation.
“I have recently read some comments attributed to me from nearly 30 years ago at a time of very high tension during my divorce from Donald. The story is totally without merit. Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of. I have nothing but fondness for Donald and wish him the best of luck on his campaign. Incidentally, I think he would make an incredible president,” Ivana said in a statement in 2015. She died in 2022.
On Monday, Trump wrote, “My former wife, Ivana, was a kind and wonderful person, and I had a great relationship with her until the day she died. The writer of this pile of garbage, Gabe Sherman, a lowlife and talentless hack, who has long been widely discredited, knew that but chose to ignore it. So sad that HUMAN SCUM, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want in order to hurt a Political Movement, which is far bigger than any of us. MAGA2024!”
This is the first time Trump has lashed out at “The Apprentice” himself, but the former president’s campaign has been outraged by the project for months. “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,” Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said in a statement provided to Variety in May.
“The Apprentice” struggled to find distribution after it premiered at Cannes and was eventually picked up by upstart distribution company Briarcliff Entertainment. It debuted in more than 1,700 theaters this weekend around the U.S., earning just $1.5 million to finish in 10th place at the box office. (Asked recently by The Hollywood Reporter to answer why “The Apprentice” had trouble finding theatrical backers, Briarcliff founder Tom Ortenberg said, “They’re cowards. Many in the industry are afraid of repercussions should Trump win the election. And to me, that’s heartbreaking. I keep liking to think that we as an industry are better than that, and I keep getting reminded that we’re not.”)
Whether Trump has seen “The Apprentice” is unknown, but the cast and crew expressed the hope that he would eventually watch the project – which defies expectations and is far from the hit piece many might expect.
“I hope he sees the movie, but I actually don’t think he would,” Strong told Entertainment Weekly. “I think there’s a lot in it that he would recognize. And I think there’s nothing really in this movie that he hasn’t acknowledged and even bragged about at some point or another. I hope he sees it. That would alone be worth making it.”
Added Sherman, “He doesn’t strike me as the most self-reflective person, but I think it would be fascinating to see him experience this part of his life and either agree with it or disagree. Whatever response he had, I think it would be really interesting.”
“The Apprentice” is a darkhorse awards contender for Stan and Strong in, respectively, the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor races.
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