Donald Trump learns the ropes of shady New York business dealings from Roy Cohn before ultimately abandoning his mentor in The Apprentice, which opens in Prague cinemas this week after premiering in competition at Cannes earlier this year. Just days ahead of one of the most contentious elections in U.S. history, this sure-handed biopic gives viewers an insightful origin story to one of the candidates while boasting a pair of powerhouse performances, impeccable period detail, and a wonderful retro feel that includes a boxy 4:3 frame and video artifacts.
Directed by Ali Abassi (Holy Spider) from a screenplay by Gabriel Sherman (Independence Day: Resurgence), The Apprentice is an almost shockingly fair-minded portrayal of Trump, one of the most divisive figures in American history. Instead of exposé, this biopic is a procedural-like examination of Trump’s early career in real estate within his father’s company, which laid a troubling foundation for what was to later come.
Director Abassi said that he was surprised Trump himself attempted to block the release of the film, thinking he might find it a flatteringly humanist portrayal given the typically sensationalized presentation of Trump in mainstream media. He’s not entirely wrong, but the truth is that neither supporters of the former President nor detractors are likely to appreciate The Apprentice for the neutral stance it takes. The director takes an impressively restrained approach here, but it’s one that will primarily interest foreign viewers and those distanced from American politics.
Sebastian Stan is a revelation as Trump in a commanding lead turn that never feels performative, and only lightly suggests the real-life character’s trademark mannerisms and pursed lips. A chameleon who rarely steals scenes even as a superhero in the MCU, Stan disappears into the role but also magnetizes throughout; you can never take your eyes off him. With impressive lead turns here and in A Different Man, the actor is having a breakout year.
He’s matched by Jeremy Strong (Succession) as Roy Cohn, the lawyer a young Trump indoctrinates himself with to tap into his business and political connections in 1970s New York City. Unlike the impartial look at Trump, The Apprentice has no trouble exposing Cohn as a homosexual playboy who threw decadent parties and openly recorded blackmail material on New York’s elite.
And yet, Cohn’s story is the one that resonates here. As the Victor Frankenstein of The Apprentice, he imbues Trump with the three rules that will come to define his career in business and politics: always attack, never admit wrongdoing, and always claim victory, even if defeated. Dying of AIDS in the film’s later scenes, he looks on in horror at the monster he has created.
While The Apprentice largely focuses on the Trump-Cohn dynamic, some of the most revealing scenes take place between Trump and his brother Freddy (Charlie Carrick). An alcoholic airline pilot rejected by their father Fred (Martin Donovan), Freddy is the one character Donald displays real, if stifled, affection for during the movie. A scene of Trump aggressively holding back tears after Freddy’s funeral, while wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova) hopelessly attempts to comfort him, might be the closest the movie comes to humanizing the character.
But while The Apprentice humanizes Trump, it never quite empathizes with him, and always keeps him at a distance; unlike, say, Goodfellas or The Wolf of Wall Street, or any number of films with morally corrupt protagonists, Abbasi never allows us to take any kind of pleasure in Trump’s shady dealings. This film knows who Trump is and what he does, but it never gets into his ambition and motives, and what makes him tick, in a way that would allow us to really invest in his journey.
That might be the one thing holding The Apprentice back from greatness; in almost every other regard, it’s a first-rate presentation that not only meticulously captures Trump himself but also New York City in the 1970s and 1980s, a city that no longer exists as it once did. For viewers in the states, this apolitical biopic may not hold much appeal ahead of next Tuesday. For other viewers, and especially those watching decades from now, The Apprentice is an invaluable document, an origin story for one of the most dominant figures in American politics in the 21st century.
2 Responses
Clear hatchet job on Trump, presented here as some kind of American Psycho, released only to capitalize on the election but American audience had no interest in seeing it in the cinema. Ironically Jeremy Strong (good here as Cohn, much better than Sebastian Stan’s SNL level impersonation) starred in Succession which was a MUCH better story of a Trump-like empire with Brian Cox as the cold but human magnate.
Nicely shot and captures the retro fell but my god what a shockingly dull movie given all the vitriol in the current political landscape. Good journalism does not a good movie make.