The Apprentice director defends Trump rape scene as lawsuit looms
- The Apprentice team fires back after Donald Trump’s campaign threatens lawsuit
- The film notably contains a scene depicting Trump raping his first wife, Ivana Trump
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The director of an explosive biopic that shows Donald Trump raping his wife defended the controversial scene, saying the alleged incident is “well known” and shed light on the former US president’s character.
The Apprentice, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, traces Trump’s origins as an ambitious young property developer in 1970s and 1980s New York.
Donald Trump’s team has vowed to sue the producers, calling it “garbage” and “pure malicious defamation”.
The most controversial scene is that of Trump raping his first wife, Ivana, after she belittles him for growing fat and bald.
“This particular thing is very well known. This incident, Ivana Trump said it under deposition, under oath,” said the filmmaker, Ali Abbasi.
In real life, Ivana made the accusation during divorce proceedings but later rescinded the allegation. She died in 2022.
Asked why the scene was included, Abbasi said the movie is “about how, point by point, bit by bit, (Trump) distances himself from those human relationships that define him and that hold him in check as a human being.
“Ivana’s relationship is super-important, obviously. Ivana is someone who is very close to him.”
Sebastian Stan, best known from Marvel superhero films, stars as Trump, while Jeremy Strong of Succession fame plays his ruthless mentor and lawyer Roy Cohn.
Both received glowing reviews from critics.
Other unflattering scenes show Trump suffering erectile dysfunction, and undergoing liposuction and surgery for hair loss.
But the film overall offers a nuanced account, depicting an ambitious but naive social climber whose decency erodes as he learns the dark arts of deal making and power.
“A lot of the behaviour and the personality is much more relatable than we want to admit,” Stan said.
Abbasi suggested that “Donald’s team should wait to watch the movie before they start suing us”.
“I don’t necessarily think this is a movie that he would dislike … I think he would be surprised,” he said.
In a statement, Trump’s campaign communications director Steven Cheung said a lawsuit would be filed “to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers”.
“This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalises lies that have been long debunked,” added Cheung.
The Apprentice premiered while Trump is on trial in Manhattan for a tawdry scandal involving a porn star.
It comes just months ahead of the US presidential election in which Trump is expected to face Joe Biden.
The screenplay was written by Gabriel Sherman, a journalist who covered real estate for the New York Observer and regularly spoke to Trump.
He said the film was blocked by top Hollywood executives, and was ultimately funded by the Canadian, Irish and Danish governments.
“We couldn’t make it in the American system,” Sherman said.
“Hollywood in many ways doesn’t want to rock certain boats.”
The film is one of 22 in competition for the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.
A jury headed by Barbie director Greta Gerwig will unveil its winner on Saturday.
