{"id":110877,"date":"2024-10-06T01:26:49","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T18:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=110877"},"modified":"2024-10-06T01:26:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-05T18:26:49","slug":"im-fine-with-people-bashing-us-inside-the-controversial-trump-biopic-biopics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=110877","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019m fine with people bashing us\u2019: inside the controversial Trump biopic | Biopics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\"><span style=\"color:var(--drop-cap);font-weight:700;\" class=\"dcr-15rw6c2\">I<\/span>n 1973, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Donald Trump<\/a> was a hungry, awkward real estate heir from Queens looking for respect in New York. Not particularly smart, not particularly charming and with no solid plan to combat a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/08\/28\/us\/politics\/donald-trump-housing-race.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">federal lawsuit<\/a> over the family company\u2019s discrimination against Black tenants, the young Trump was fumbling toward his dream of opening a lavish hotel near Grand Central. That is, until he met Roy Cohn, Senator Joseph McCarthy\u2019s pugilistic prosecutor turned Richard Nixon confidant and political fixer, at a swanky New York club.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"018402ea-be0e-401d-8db5-c70656b7e7e7\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\" dcr-1your1i\"><gu-island name=\"RichLinkComponent\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"idle\" props=\"{&quot;richLinkIndex&quot;:1,&quot;element&quot;:{&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement&quot;,&quot;prefix&quot;:&quot;Related: &quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice depicts him as a rapist&quot;,&quot;elementId&quot;:&quot;018402ea-be0e-401d-8db5-c70656b7e7e7&quot;,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;richLink&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/article\/2024\/may\/20\/donald-trump-biopic-the-apprentice-ali-abbasi-cannes&quot;},&quot;ajaxUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk&quot;,&quot;format&quot;:{&quot;display&quot;:2,&quot;theme&quot;:3,&quot;design&quot;:10}}\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">That\u2019s the opening scene of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/article\/2024\/may\/20\/the-apprentice-review-cartoon-version-of-chump-in-chief-donald-trumps-early-years\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">The Apprentice<\/a>, a new film out this month following a beleaguered journey to theaters. Written by Vanity Fair\u2019s longtime Trump chronicler Gabriel Sherman and directed by the Iranian Danish film-maker Ali Abbasi, the film depicts the young Trump\u2019s ascent in New York society in the 1970s and 80s via Cohn\u2019s shameless tactics, as the lawyer\u2019s health weakened due to HIV\/Aids. The question dogging the film, starring a de-handsomed Sebastian Stan as Trump and Succession\u2019s Jeremy Strong as Cohn, has been: does anyone want to watch a Trump movie? And after the film fizzled into a long period of distribution uncertainty following some positive reviews at the Cannes film festival in May \u2013 <em>would<\/em> anyone be able to watch it?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">\u201cI\u2019m fine with people bashing us, praising us, whatever,\u201d Abbasi, who previously made serial killer thriller Holy Spider, said. \u201cWhat I\u2019m not fine with, what really hurts, is the boycott or censorship that, effectively, we went through.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"3d7f162b-9f09-46ce-bf62-2b9d516403f8\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.VideoYoutubeBlockElement\" class=\" dcr-173mewl\">\n<div data-component=\"youtube-embed\" class=\"dcr-13aa88h\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/0tXEN0WNJUg?wmode=opaque&amp;feature=oembed\" title=\"The Apprentice | Official Trailer | Exclusively in Theaters October 11\" height=\"480\" width=\"854\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">Even with two major stars attached, the independent film has had a torturous road to theaters. Following the film\u2019s festival premiere, the Trump camp issued <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/article\/2024\/may\/24\/trump-apprentice-film-cease-and-desist\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">a cease-and-desist letter<\/a> \u2013 unsurprising, given the former president\u2019s litigiousness and the film\u2019s material. The Apprentice depicts, among other things, Trump raping his first wife, Ivana (Maria Bakalova) \u2013 a fictionalized account of an alleged 1989 attack \u2013 and getting liposuction. Dan Snyder, a pro-Trump billionaire involved with Kinematics, the company that put up equity for the film against domestic rights, reportedly sought to block its release. Possibly spooked by the legal threats, various studios and streamers passed. At the 11th hour, Briarcliff Entertainment swooped in with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/trump-film-the-apprentice-release-date-awards-campaign-1235984424\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">domestic distribution plan<\/a> and awards push, though the film-makers still asked for $100,000 in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-features\/the-apprentice-movie-kickstarter-1235991544\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Kickstarter campaign<\/a> (dubbed \u201cRelease the Apprentice\u201d).<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">According to Abbasi, who is based in Copenhagen, the distribution issue was less a juicy story of a rightwing billionaire and more an unrepentant liar getting their way than simple corporate logic: \u201cWhatever makes money makes money, whatever doesn\u2019t make money is not interesting.\u201d The calculation being that, though people will watch the movie, it could turn off more Maga subscribers or customers. \u201cFor all the liberal surface of Hollywood \u2013 and I\u2019m not saying they\u2019re lying or anything \u2013 but I don\u2019t think they\u2019re willing to get into politics in any major, meaningful way,\u201d said Abbasi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">The movie has, from the get-go, been a tough sell. \u201cTrumpland thinks that we\u2019re doing a hit job on Trump, but when we were doing the movie, all our liberal friends in Hollywood, they thought that we\u2019re giving him too much oxygen,\u201d said Abbasi. \u201cWe had people hanging up on us when we were crewing up, because we didn\u2019t \u2018hate\u2019 Trump enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">To be clear, the film, which Sherman first conceived and wrote in 2017 \u2013 far before Cohn\u2019s rules of \u201cattack, attack, attack\u201d, \u201cadmit nothing, deny everything\u201d and \u201cnever admit defeat\u201d manifested in efforts to steal a US presidential election \u2013 does not go easy on Trump. It\u2019s a work of dramatization grounded in the historical record, which is as damning as you view it to be. (For people outside the Maga-verse, it\u2019s pretty damning.) But it is attempting to do what may be impossible in America now: to talk about Trump without any political baggage, to set aside feelings on the man in the name of fact-based art. \u201cIt\u2019s not written to influence people\u2019s minds,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cIt\u2019s written as art and what people take from it is their own choice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">\u201cIt\u2019s such a universal story about the apprentice outstripping the master,\u201d he added. \u201cI hope people can experience it on its own terms and not bring all their political baggage to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"ccab2cda-3fcf-42bf-b71d-0029d153779e\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\" dcr-173mewl\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1fujct4\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Maria Bakalova and Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice.<\/span> Photograph: Pief Weyman\/Photo: Pief Weyman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">Nothing in the Apprentice is unknown to anyone who has paid attention to Trump beyond his recent political career. The film depicts his icy, disappointing relationship with his father (Martin Donovan); his more affectionate relationship with his alcoholic older brother Fred (Charlie Carrick), who died in 1981; his bumbling courtship with Ivana; and his blind eye toward Cohn\u2019s homosexuality and bumbling attempts at respectability. And perhaps most damning of all, his cheats, workarounds and outright lies \u2013 to the housing board, to the press \u2013 that worked because they aligned with others\u2019 self-interest, and the ways that New York elites conferred legitimacy on a blowhard. (A New York Times profile comparing Trump to Robert Redford, read aloud by his mother Mary, is lifted directly from a real article helping to build Trump\u2019s reputation as a legitimate New York businessman.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">\u201cThere\u2019s a system, there\u2019s a social Darwinism that is built-in in American society, that didn\u2019t come with Trump and will not end with Trump,\u201d said Abbasi, who maintains that The Apprentice is \u201cnot a Trump movie. It is about the becoming of the character <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Donald Trump<\/a> as we know him today, through this very specific time and specific relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">Over the course of the film, Trump, as played by Stan in as unexaggerated a way as someone could possibly do, becomes more and more like the recognizable figure today \u2013 bigger and with more bluster, operating with increasingly little sense of consequence. The most disturbing scene to watch \u2013 and the one that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/article\/2024\/may\/20\/donald-trump-biopic-the-apprentice-ali-abbasi-cannes\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">made headlines out of Cannes<\/a> \u2013 is one in which he rapes Ivana in the late 1980s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">\u201cI felt the film had to address that aspect of his character \u2013 it would be a whitewash of a movie if we didn\u2019t acknowledge it in some way,\u201d said Sherman, noting that Trump has been credibly accused of sexual assault by at least a dozen women, and was found liable by a New York jury for the assault of the former Elle columnist E Jean Carroll. The episode in question draws from Ivana\u2019s own divorce deposition, behind closed doors and under oath, in 1990. (Ivana, who died in 2022, later made contradictory statements, though Sherman noted these were under pressure from Trump\u2019s lawyers and, eventually, campaign team.) \u201cI wanted to feel like, OK, this man is our president he has this history of sexual assault \u2013 let\u2019s look at it, let\u2019s like make people actually see what that is like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">It\u2019s one of several tough scenes to stomach, however much one has intellectualized Trump\u2019s well-documented misconduct, and has, naturally, drawn the ire of Republicans. The former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee publicly <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WriterPaulBond\/status\/1840596769157382214\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">called for a boycott<\/a> of the \u201canti-Trump\u201d movie. (\u201cThey do first amendment only when it suits them, their freedom of speech only when it\u2019s about fascism,\u201d Abbasi said of Huckabee and his ilk.)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"79d53999-55fb-4123-a8f1-08fd48210196\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\" dcr-173mewl\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1fujct4\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Sebastian Stan, Ali Abbasi and Maria Bakalova at The Apprentice premiere in Cannes.<\/span> Photograph: David Fisher\/Rex\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">Trump cronies aside, The Apprentice still faces an uphill battle to viewers. ABC and CBS have <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2024\/10\/the-apprentice-ads-cbs-abc-donald-trump-1236105174\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">refused to air spots<\/a> for the film during the campaign debates, a decision Briarcliff attributed to \u201ctimidity and cowardice\u201d. And then there\u2019s the hurdle of enticing audiences to watch a two-hour film about a man most Americans have a set opinion on, and a solid half would prefer to see less of. \u201cPeople are bringing a lot of preconceptions to this movie,\u201d Sherman conceded, \u201cbut if they just allow themselves to sit in the theater and be surprised, I think they\u2019ll have a really exciting time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">Both Abbasi and Sherman pitched The Apprentice as many things: a New York movie about a bygone, sleazy, formative era. A tale of a corruptible system. A classic student becomes the teacher saga. An origin story. But it is first and foremost a dramatized portrait of Donald Trump, the person. Trump is \u201cnot an alien, he\u2019s not from another planet. He\u2019s human,\u201d said Sherman. \u201cWe have to look at these people, even if you disagree with them, so that maybe the next time there is another Trump coming along we\u2019ll recognize them as such.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-106f06m\">Ultimately, the film, like any movie, is up to interpretation. \u201cI think the audience is really smart,\u201d said Abbasi. \u201cThey can make up their own mind, if they come in and give this a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2024\/oct\/05\/apprentice-trump-movie-ali-abbasi\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1973, Donald Trump was a hungry, awkward real estate heir from Queens looking for respect in New York. Not particularly smart, not particularly charming and with no solid plan &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=110877\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}