Joanna Psaros
The art of the deal with the devil.
It’s the biopic Donald Trump doesn’t want you to see. That’s just one of the reasons catch The Apprentice– an unfiltered and unflinching snapshot of the then-property developer’s ruthless ascent up the 1980s Manhattan real estate ladder- and the casualties he left along the way.
As well as being a tongue-in-cheek callback to the reality tv vehicle that propelled Donald Trump into mainstream media fame of the early noughties, The Apprentice’s title refers to the unlikely mentor-mentee relationship formed between a young Trump and attorney Roy Cohn at the heart of this historical drama. Steering clear of present-day politics (well, as much as a biopic filmed between terms and released on the eve of the sitting President’s re-election can), the film wisely forgoes direct commentary on still-unfolding world events and centres on a brief window into Trump’s early career in the New York City property scene as he struggles to make a name for himself and break free of his imposing father’s business woes. But the lessons our protagonist learns prove scarily prescient for today’s audience.
The English language debut of Iranian-Danish director Ali Abbasi, The Apprentice opens on a smoky members club where Abbasi’s fictionised Donald Trump (any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is decidedly not coincidental) is pulled away from his date with a bored debutante and invited to join the private room of darkly glamourous legal shark Roy Cohn and his dubious associates. After some light hazing (“You trying to fuck me? taunts Cohn in response to Donald’s artless flattery before forcing the panicked teetotaller to take shots of whiskey until he pukes), he’s taken into the fold and under Cohn’s wing when the attorney reluctantly agrees to represent the Trump family business in its tenancy discrimination suit. For a price, of course. The question is, who will end up paying?
The role of Donald Trump is played by the relative up-and-comer Sebastian Stan, whose previous work includes a small supporting role in Captain America: Winter Soldier. Earning him an Oscar nomination, Stan’s depiction avoids the low-hanging fruit of parody à la Alec Baldwin and instead balances hard-edged aggression with moments of unexpected vulnerability. While far from a flattering portrayal- the film is accurate if nothing else- his Donald Trump is against all odds a deeply humanising portrait of the larger-than-life leader.
Stan is not the only example of The Apprentice’s inspired casting, with Succession’s Jeremy Strong predictably excellent in the role of Roy Cohn. Strong’s portrayal of Cohn’s deadpan depravity also benefits from the fact that his subject is now deceased and therefore unable to be defamed, allowing the character to inhabit as much of the late-stage capitalist evil the runtime allows without fear of legal recourse.
That’s not to say it’s inaccurate (former Cohn associate Roger Stone is credited as calling the performance “uncanny in its accuracy”). But as the film itself illustrates, accuracy never got in the way of a Roy Cohn lawsuit. “Attack, attack, attack,” was (allegedly) number one of the many unscrupulous rules for success he both lived by and passed on to impressionable protégé Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Maria Bakalova is pitch-perfect as Trump’s first wife Ivana whom he woos relentlessly, bullies into signing a Roy Cohn-drafted pre-nup, and, finally, savages in the film’s most shocking and graphic scene. Not yet a household name, Bakalova has nonetheless helmed an interesting filmography over her young career. In 2020, the actress played Borat’s daughter in Borat 2: Subsequent Moveifilm alongside Trump’s actual attorney at the time, Rudy Giuliani, in a controversial ‘mic removal’ sting that would be memed the world over.
Real-world Donald Trump was not a fan of Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, nor presumably the real-world fallout the aforementioned prank had for a key member of his administration. His review of Bakalova’s follow-up vehicle has not been much better, with Trump calling The Apprentice a “cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet-job” in a caps-heavy post on Truth Social. We think that’s a little harsh. But the film is not without its weaknesses.
While for the most part The Apprentice makes inventive use of a below average budget, leaning in to the grittiness of its inner-city aesthetic and recreating existing archival media footage to represent Trump’s mastery of self-promotion and pursuit of tabloid infamy, production restraints are more noticeable in what should be sumptuously shot interiors where the lighting and sound design are at times distractingly poor.
Even worse are the bizarre continuity errors and jarring jumps between flashbacks in the film’s final act (at one point we see a key character’s funeral immediately before several scenes set prior to his death seemingly without rhyme or reason). It’s possible such cuts were the result late-production attempts to stave off Trump’s legal pressure that threatened to sink the film altogether. Whatever the case, these editing choices make for a confusing and somewhat underwhelming conclusion.
Though imperfect in its execution, The Apprentice is an overall riveting character study and creatively constructed indictment of both the key players and very systems that enabled and encouraged the modern American success story that is Donald Trump. And that’s not fake news.
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