This may be all that we get to see between now and when this picture hits the theater in five weeks, but it does give you the flavor of the two main characters, Donald Trump and Roy Cohn. At first blush Jeremy Strong’s Cohn is serpentine, pushy, and extremely bright. I’ll go along with those being the salient characteristics of Cohn, at least from footage and I’ve seen and what I’ve read. Sebastian Stan’s Trump, on the other hand, is a doofus, at least sitting right next to Cohn who is trying to mentor him. This version of Trump is pudgy, not quite with it, and unable to follow direction. Fast forward some forty years, and nothing has changed. See for yourself.
This has the earmarks of a decent movie. It’s one I will see, in all events, unless the reviews absolutely pan it. So far that has not been the case but they’re not raving about it, either. The film was released abroad in the Spring and would have been released domestically but for the fact that its controversial subject matter made it difficult to secure a U.S. distributor. That hurdle has been overcome and here’s what the BBC has to say about it.
Taking its name from a certain television series, The Apprentice is a shrewd and darkly amusing tragicomedy that dramatises Donald Trump’s rise to fame and fortune in the 1970s and 80s. What that means is that some viewers will condemn it for being too harsh and others will condemn it for not being harsh enough. But the filmmakers’ cunning efforts to show their subject as a human being rather than a superhero or a supervillain are what make it so watchable. While the movie begins with a disclaimer that many of its events are fictionalised, the former president has threatened to take legal action.
Donald (Sebastian Stan) is first seen as a young man in the early 1970s. He works for the New York real estate company run by his cold and condescending father Fred (Martin Donovan), knocking on doors and collecting rent from his impoverished tenants, but he dreams of opening a luxury high-rise hotel near Central Station. The only snag is that the company is being sued over the small matter of its racial profiling of potential renters. “How can I be racist when I’ve got a black driver?” splutters Fred.
Enter Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), a notoriously vicious and unscrupulous lawyer who catches Donald’s eye in a swanky members club. Cohn may be in the habit of taking meetings in his office while he does sit-ups in his underpants, but Donald is spellbound by his rudeness, his contempt for his opponents, and his three rules for success: always attack, never admit to any wrongdoing, and never admit defeat. The fact that he is so open about using blackmail only adds to his lustre in the younger man’s eyes. Cohn could be the encouraging father figure that Donald has always lacked. […]
It’s a shame that the film all too quickly pushes Cohn to the sidelines. The second half of The Apprentice becomes a more conventional biopic, working its way through Donald’s successful and less successful business ventures, and chronicling his toxic relationship with his first wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova from the second Borat film). But it’s still grimly fascinating to see the build-up of Boogie Nights-style sleaze as he takes to amphetamines, plastic surgery and younger women.
It’s also rather strangely sad to see something inside him withering away and dying. As Donald talks more and listens less, and apparently loses all capacity for genuine affection, it’s clear that Stan, Abbasi and Sherman were thinking of Citizen Kane and The Godfather, not to mention the way Shakespeare’s Hal casts aside his former friend and mentor.
The BBC gives it three stars. This is the first of many Trump biopics to come. But I don’t think they will come soon. We are burnt out on this guy and his whacky family. But fifty years from now, or even more, when most of us will be on the other side of the grass, people will look back upon this era as we now look back upon Watergate.
Time may not heal all wounds but time absolutely provides perspectives of people and events that it’s not possible to clearly see until some kind of larger context is granted. Plus, the Trump story isn’t over yet. We don’t know if he goes to prison. We don’t know if he has a heart attack from one too many cheeseburgers. We’re still living it day to day.
Make no mistake, this era in American politics will always be focused on as pivotal. If nothing else, hundreds of years from now school children will watch video of presidents that there is video available on, whether it’s FDR, JFK, or the reality TV clown. And they will be appalled as we are.
Trump has earned eternal disgrace for himself and his name. That much is certain. It might be nice to have this guy’s money but I certainly wouldn’t want to be related to him for an abundance of reasons.
I will admit to being the world’s most rabid, 70 year-old Sebastian Stan fangirl!! He will make a Donald Trump biopic watchable for me when other actors wouldn’t be able to. The trailer showed a bit of Stan’s ability to help portray a doofus who is unlikable but also fun to watch because he is in way over his head! That short clip was reminiscent of Stan’s turn as Tonya Harding’s inept husband, Jeff Gillooly…desperate to be a player, but with no discernible skills! I’ll enjoy every minute of it! Guaranteed!
I admire the film-makers for even trying to portray Trump, a man who’s his own parody in real life, never mind on-screen. Roy Cohn was so evil that most sane, normal folks wouldn’t believe he could exist, let alone mentor future presidents (Nixon & Trump). I expect MAGAt storm-troopers will be torching theatres when this film opens.
Ursula…just remember history is written by the winners, which, has yet to be determined. Ask 100 citizens how many treaties did the US break with the Indians and see if anyone has a clue…of course the easiest answer, if the number is unknown, is ALL OF THEM. Of course, if Trump/GOP steal this one as planned, we won’t have to worry about 100 years…we won’t be here after the tipping point of climate disaster is reached.