‘Charming’, ‘disturbing’, ‘undercurrent’: The Intern, Donald Trump biopic sparks controversy at Cannes

Controversy is blowing in Cannes with the presentation of Ali Abbasi’s film The Apprentice, which deals with Donald Trump’s youth. Actor Sebastian Stan plays the role of a politician. The response from the main stakeholder was swift. The American candidate’s team says it wants to file a lawsuit against the filmmaker. The press release states:

“This garbage is pure fiction sensationalizing a long exposed lie. As with the Biden impeachment trial, this is election meddling by the Hollywood elite who know President Trump will take back the White House and defeat their chosen candidate because nothing has worked..”

Political speech and response to complaint

At the end of the big premiere this Monday, May 20, director Ali Abbasi took the microphone with a very political speech: “If you look at the news today, there’s the death of the president of Iran, there’s war in Ukraine, there’s war in Sudan, and in troubled times there’s a tendency toward introspection. We bury our heads in the sand, round our backs, hoping that the storm will pass, but it won’t. The worst is yet to come. We can pretend it doesn’t exist, or you can manage it“.

Therefore, the press conference around this film was definitely expected. The director responded to the complaint as follows:Donald Trump very often says that he intends to file a complaint against this or that person, but we talk much less about the success of his complaints.“

Election year

The presentation of the film coincides with the American election year. Ali Abbas recalls that the second debate will be held on September 15, and this date could be ideal to promote the feature film.

To prepare for it, Sebastian Stan explains that he “lived” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with Donald Trump, watching his videos, listening to his conversations. “I don’t know how else I could have done it other than 100% immersion.”

Despite the controversy, the film team highly encourages Donald Trump and his team to watch The Apprentice. “I don’t think he’ll hate it or like it, but I think he might be surprised,” says the director.

What did the festival participants think?

The 77th Cannes Film Festival will be held from May 14 to 25, 2024.