‘Apprentice’ Star Jeremy Strong Says Donald Trump Film Is a ‘Frankenstein Movie’: ‘It’s About the Creation of a Monster by Another Monster’
If you’ve seen any publicity for “The Apprentice” — the controversial new biopic about a young Donald Trump’s tutelage under the ruthless Roy Cohn — then you know the party line, hocked in one interview after another by the film’s cast: The movie took seven years to make; nearly didn’t happen three times; narrowly escaped a cease and desist from Trump’s legal team; and now, less than four weeks before Election Day, premieres by happenstance at a serendipitous moment for the country and election.
But nobody buys that. Not even Jeremy Strong.
“Worthless to our world,” the actor told Variety at the film’s premiere in New York City Tuesday evening, “or certainly worth immeasurably less if it were to come out on November 6.”
“While it’s not a movie that set out to be partisan—it didn’t set out to be polemic—it does have a point-of-view,” Strong, who plays an eerie, uncanny Cohn, continued. “It’s a monster movie. It’s a Frankenstein movie. It’s about the creation of a monster by another monster,” he said. “It’s fortuitous that it’s coming out now, but it’s not an accident.”
If you’re looking for a film to “humanize” Donald Trump—a word the movie’s cast loves to use in interviews—you’ll find plenty of that in “The Apprentice.” As a young upstart, the film’s version of Trump pratfalls into the lap of New York’s powerbrokers. For at least an hour, he’s charming and entertaining to watch, if not completely relatable. You’ll see a fairly uncanny performance by Sebastian Stan, half-way avoiding caricature. And an exceptional turn as Roy Cohn from Strong.
But you’ll also find plenty of fodder for controversy. In a penultimate, Frankenstein-esque scene, Donald Trump takes his final form thanks to liposuction and a gory hair lift. He rapes Ivana Trump on the floor of their Trump Tower penthouse. He curb stomps local politicians with life-ending blackmail. And when Cohn falls ill with AIDS, Trump humiliates him and lets him die. Even if all is alleged to be true, it’s still shocking to see.
So which is it? A creative endeavor to unfurl the humanity behind Trump’s transfiguration—or a well-timed hit piece? Easy enough: All you need to do is ask the film’s director, Ali Abbasi.
In the dimly lit basement of the Dramatists Guild of America — not nearly the glamorous movie premiere Trump would want for himself — Abbasi thrusted around the small red carpet like a loose cannon in a leather jacket. Getting him into a corner to talk about his real feelings was easy enough.
“After all we’ve been through, after this David and Goliath situation? I want to release it now,” Abbasi said, jacked up by the question. “We’re up against everyone, everything. Corporations. Trump. His campaign. Lawyers. We have no backing. We have no billionaire giving us money. This is my chance to have the movie be seen. Why wouldn’t I use it?,” he asked incredulously, all in one breath.
Nearby, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer turned felon and now all-around barnacle, lingered on the red carpet, there to give interviews for no other reason than to jab Trump some more. Abbasi gestured his way, a great reminder of what happens when Trump decides to chew someone up.
Trump already served the production a cease and desist, and the reality is, Abbasi said, the former President can still draw blood. It’s not about whether Abbasi wins or loses. Trump can use the same tactics he learned from Cohn on the film itself, a monster all Abbasi’s own.
“If we were in another country, I would say ‘Fuck it.’ Bring it on. I’m going to fucking crush you. I’m right. You’re wrong,” Abbasi said about potential retaliation from Trump. “But the problem is: We’re dealing with a very complicated, flawed justice system in the United States, where you can bury anyone if you have enough money, legal firepower and lawyers,” he continued, sounding not unlike his subject.
“They can bring the case. I’ll win the case, but I lose everything I have. I have to sell my house. I have to sell my car. I have to sell everything to pay the legal fees. Trump has unlimited funds and legal powers—and very powerful friends. Me against them.”
Here, a glutton for punishment, Abbasi enters the world of his film. “This isn’t a story about the Democratic party,” he told Variety. “It’s not a story about the Republican Party. It’s about the whole system of power. The US political system is WWF.”
And, since he was there—why not? —what does Cohen think? “If I was Trump,” the former fixer said. “I’d sue.”
But Cohen qualified: “In the end, I’m not so sure that it will be the retaliation that you’re thinking of, where someone simply files a lawsuit against them,” he told Variety. “The retaliation will be more sinister.”
“I’m always nervous about retaliation from Donald and his sycophantic followers,” he paused. “That’s the real danger.”
See photos from “The Apprentice” premiere below:
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