Is Trump biopic The Apprentice the most controversial film of 2024? It stars Marvel’s Sebastian Stan, one scene involving Ivana shocked Cannes audiences – and Donald Trump is trying to block its release

Jun 3 , 2024

Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump (right) and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, the explosive new biopic of Donald Trump shown at Cannes, in May. Photo: Handout

A ‘scathing portrait’, The Apprentice depicts a young Donald Trump’s relationship with mob-connected New York lawyer Roy Cohn and includes one disturbing scene that has riled his supporters

Starring the MCU’s Sebastian Stan, Succession’s Jeremy Strong and Borat 2’s Maria Bakalova, the bio drama is a hot potato threatening to alienate Trumpists and has struggled to find a US distributor

The Apprentice may not have won any awards at last month’s Cannes Film Festival, but it did earn an eight-minute standing ovation. Described as a “scathing portrait”, the “brutal” Donald Trump biopic certainly caused a buzz at the festival, per Variety.

US screenwriter Gabriel Sherman, Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, Iranian director Ali Abbasi and Romanian-US actor Sebastian Stan and US actor Martin Donovan leave after the screening of the film The Apprentice at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 20. Photo: AFP

In particular, The Apprentice shocked audiences at Cannes with its depiction of Trump raping his first wife, Ivana. The scene is based on allegations in Ivana’s own 1990 divorce deposition – although she retracted the claim of rape in July 2015 during Trump’s presidential campaign, per ABC News.

Per The Guardian, Trump’s legal team was quick to send a cease and desist letter to the biopic’s producers in an attempt to thwart the movie’s release in the US.

Donald Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung (pictured) has called the film The Apprentice “pure malicious defamation”. Photo: The Washington Post via Getty Images

“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,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.

Speaking after the screening at Cannes, The Apprentice’s Iranian-Danish director, Ali Abbasi, didn’t mince his words either. “There is no nice metaphorical way to deal with fascism,” he said. “It’s time to make movies relevant. It’s time to make movies political again.”

Here’s what to know about one of the most controversial films of 2024.

The Apprentice has a stellar cast and crew

Romanian-US actor Sebastian Stan poses during a photocall for the film The Apprentice at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 21. Photo: AFP

Sebastian Stan plays a young Trump in the 1970s and 80s as he pursues his property career. Fans of the MCU universe will recognise Stan for his portrayal of Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier, a role he has filled in seven films to date (and will reprise in 2025’s Thunderbolts).