Sebastian Stan is Donald Trump in The Apprentice [bande-annonce]

The 45th President of the United States is at the heart of this biopic that defied the headlines at the Cannes Film Festival.

Presented in official competition at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, the latest film by Ali Abbasi (The Nights of Mashhad), The Apprentice, had many twists and turns before it could find its way to American theaters – the lawyers of the former President of the United States campaigned against the film and blocked its release scheduled for a month before the American presidential elections. A strategic date for a feature film that according to some could influence the choice of voters. Moreover, this choice was largely shaped by the presidential debate between the two candidates – Kamal Harris and Donald Trump – which took place last night. Again, without leaving anything to chance, a few hours before the broadcast, The Apprentice has unveiled its very first trailer. The goal? To allow Americans to get an idea of ​​the life of the Republican candidate, his rise, staged and played by a Sebastian Stan wigged and made up.

“This is not a movie about Donald Trump”: Ali Abbasi abrasive at The Apprentice press conference

Before he entered politics, real estate was Donald Trump's playground. In 1970s New York, where wealth gaps are widening, crime is on the rise and some men are reporting individuals “profiting” from the State of Providence, the son of this real estate investor wants to break away from the family business and play in the big leagues. To help him achieve his goals and this “American dream”he can count on the formidable lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). The latter will teach him the workings of the system and how to use it as he wishes. Here the origin story by Donald Trump.

Edited and formatted like a VHS, The Apprentice seems to follow a frantic pace. In this trailer, everything is there: his dreams of grandeur, his thirst for power and money, for sex too, his meeting with the model Ivana Trump who will become his wife, the behind the scenes of this marriage, and especially this Faustian pact signed with Roy Cohn. The actor of Succession shines and above all frightens in this role of mentor, dictating to the young Trump the three rules to follow to succeed and which, even today, seems to guide his political line: attack, deny (we think of the countless “fake news” decried by the former president), and turn every defeat into a victory. Tea Apprentice, or how Donald Trump built his unwavering confidence on the backs of others.

Be careful, however, for its director, it is not a question of making the portrait of a monster, as he confided to us on the Croisette:

“I know that many people see Donald Trump as a monster. I don't, and with this film, I'm looking for the humanity in him. Not to heroize him or justify anything he's said or done, but to show that deep down, he's the product of a system pushed to its extreme.”

In the United States, the film will be released on October 11, in time for the presidential elections, and in France, it will be in theaters from October 9.

Cannes 2024 – The Apprentice: the origin story of Donald Trump [critique]