Unless I miss my guess, the news that Donald Trump is so threatened by the biopic about him has caused him to get the lawyers seeking to enjoin its distribution, will be met with great rejoicing. I see before me the scene from Network where Faye Dunaway proclaims, “We’ve got publicity we couldn’t buy for a million dollars and it’s being handed to us on a silver platter. Let’s not screw it up.” I daresay they won’t. Variety:
Attorneys for Donald Trump have sent a cease and desist letter to the filmmakers behind “The Apprentice” in an effort to block its U.S. sale and release. It warns the team behind the film not to pursue a distribution deal, according to two people who have read the letter. “The Apprentice,” which looks at Trump’s early years as a real estate developer and his relationship with Roy Cohn, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this week.
“The film is a fair and balanced portrait of the former president,” the producers of the film said in a statement regarding the cease-and-desist letter. “We want everyone to see it and then decide.”
The movie, which was independently produced, stars Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Cohn. It presents a damning portrait of the former president as an ethically compromised, philanderer who stiffs contractors and cuts deals with the mob to get his buildings completed. It includes other controversial details, including a scene where Trump rapes his first wife, Ivana, and depicts him abusing amphetamines to lose weight, as well as undergoing liposuction and plastic surgery.
Uh, oh. Those are moments Trumpty would rather not be reminded of. And Team Trump sounds pretty steamed, oh mama.
Trump’s camp responded with a blistering note, threatening legal action. “This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire,” Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said in a statement.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Pushed a button or two, methinks? Gabriel Sherman wrote the script. He is a journalist who published a lot of very snarky takes in Vanity Fair when Trumpty was in office. He’s a good writer. If he penned this movie, chances are it’s a hell of a script. And if you have a hell of a script, then actors have what they need to do their best alchemy and produce a masterpiece. I don’t know if The Apprentice is that, but it’s pretty plain that Team Trump is freaked out of their skulls, so that’s a good sign, certainly.
At a press conference in Cannes for “The Apprentice,” [Director Ali] Abbasi responded to Trump’s legal threats. “Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people — they don’t talk about his success rate though, you know?” he said. He also offered to screen the movie for Trump, saying, “I don’t necessarily think that this is a movie he would dislike.”
Evidently it’s a movie he hates. Remember, the truth affects Trump the way holy water affects a vampire, it burns them.
Here’s the simple reality of this situation: in tort law, the truth is an absolute defense to defamation. The rape of Ivana was chronicled by none other than Ivana herself. And I daresay that Gabriel Sherman found the anecdotes he put in the screenplay from credible sources. There is no way to rationally assume that he would not have anticipated blowback from Trump. So I’m pretty sure he covered his derriere.
But let Trump argue defamation. Let him show that these events never happened. One barrier he faces now is that Ivana is dead and so she couldn’t testify in Trump’s favor if he paid her all the money he pays Melania to make appearances.
Trump can argue anything he bloody wants. Making an allegation and proving an allegation are two totally different things. And it’s not like his mob connections and him stiffing contractors aren’t documented from here to kingdom come.
Poor Donald. He’s flapping his jaws in the breeze. Again. Nobody listens. Nobody cares. And I’ll bet these filmmakers are dancing a jig right now because after this meltdown people are going to be dying to see their film. Trump just handed them a gift. And that gift is going to translate into coin of the realm. Maybe enough to make a sequel? Let’s hope. If it drives Trump off his rocker, I want to see a whole series of these films.
Oh the karma!
Mr Trump, who got where he was by ‘publicity you can’t buy’ thanks to a click-hungry, ‘bothsiding’ media gives ‘publicity you can’t buy’ to a film critical of him, no doubt ensuring it’s success.
Delicious.
I didn’t know until two hours ago that Gabriel Sherman wrote the script. It’s got to be good. And if it’s as snarky and cutting as I anticipate, Donald is going to overload his diapers in short time.
Instant karma gonna get you…it’s gonna knock you right in the head. Better get yourself together darlin…pretty soon you’re gonna be dead.
John Lennon…you are missed John.
It’s got to be a good movie is Stephen Cheung is having kittens like this.
Catch and kill this, VSIP.
Those days are gone. The only thing getting “caught” is Trump. And if he gets “killed” he did it to himself.
Gotta LOVE the smell of karma in the morning…..