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Well, this could be a tricky question to tackle. Every time a biopic is released, the first question becomes: how much of it is true? I’m not sure this question has ever been fraught with more pitfalls than The Apprentice. Obviously, the negative aspects about Trump some will believe, and his supporters will vehemently deny. Quite a few people who have ever been in the limelight have caused quite as much divisive and hyperbolic commentary and mania. Even this film’s existence caused controversy, with Trump labeling everyone involved as “human scum” and writer Gabriel Sherman receiving death threats, according to Jeremy Strong in an interview with the BBC.
What both sides will agree on is that Trump has an uncanny ability to either spin, deflect, or plow through seemingly unwinnable situations. How Trump acquired this ability is something that The Apprentice attempts to explain in its portrayal of the mentorship between Sebastian Stan‘s Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong’s Roy Cohn during the 1970s and 80s. The events depicted in the event have nearly all been disputed, but what cannot be argued, in my opinion, is how this very question reflects Roy Cohn and Donald Trump’s relationship with the truth.
Roy Cohn’s Political Influence is Played Down, Instead Focusing on His Influence on Trump
Roy Cohn’s political influence is, if anything, far deeper than it is portrayed in the film, as it is Trump who is presented as his most influential client. During the Rosenberg’s 1951 trial, in which an American couple, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were executed for spying for the Soviet Union, the first time American civilians were executed for espionage, Roy Cohn really did use illegal back channels to get the Rosenbergs executed. He does admit this in The Apprentice, but once again, the action itself pales in comparison to the influence on Trump it appears to have, as the final lesson is that you have “to be willing to do anything to anyone” in order to win. However, the film almost underplays just how influential Roy Cohn was in wider American political history. He was chief counsel during the trials of McCarthyism, a witch-hunt against supposed Communists which is now widely acknowledged as a method used to oust certain political opponents, something even Oppenheimer touched on with Robert Oppenheimer’s (Cillian Murphy) security clearance trial.
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‘The Apprentice’ Just Passed Its First Small Global Box Office Milestone
Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong star in the film.
Strong’s Portrayal of Cohn’s Homosexuality Highlights the Lawyers’ Real-Life Hypocrisy
Throughout the film, we see Cohn being homophobic in public, calling people horrific slurs as casually as breathing, whilst having homosexual relations in private, most notably his lover Russell (Ben Sullivan), who tragically passed away due to Aids. We see Cohn express this hypocrisy explicitly in the scene where he uses pictures of the lead prosecutor engaging in a homosexual affair to blackmail him to settle the case against Trump for not renting to African Americans. In real life, Cohn’s hypocrisy stretched even further, as he relentlessly prosecuted homosexual politicians rather than just keeping their secrets to blackmail them, ruining the lives of many, many people. It further demonstrates the main Machiavellian nature of Roy Cohn’s rules: that you have to be willing to do whatever to whoever to win, though Donald Trump seems to use these rules to be capable of things that even surprised Cohn.
‘The Apprentice’ Bases Many Scenes on Ivana Trump’s Testimony Against Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s own narrative within the film is terribly difficult to prove as being completely based in real life, as not only has he denied almost everything that happens in the film, but Ivana Trump’s recounted statements during her divorce with Donald Trump make it even harder to outright confirm what is true and what isn’t. Overall, they reflect the characteristics, and some would say the real-life Donald Trump’s relationship with the truth. Ivana previously spoke of Donald Trump’s plastic surgeries, including liposuction and a scalp reduction, which we see portrayed in the film alongside Roy Cohn’s death, framing Trump as becoming the true monster now that Roy Cohn helped to create. Similarly, the rape scene is based on Ivana Trump’s, played by Maria Bakalova, own testimonials during her and Trump’s divorce, though she recounted all of these statements in 2015 in response to a Daily Beast article. Because of this feeds into Trump’s entire approach to the truth in this film; if someone says something happened then said it didn’t, what is the truth?
One thing that we can say is almost certainly true, though with everything else in this movie being disputed, we can only go on the sources we have, is that the cuff links Donald Trump gave Roy Cohn were indeed fakes, as reported by The New York Times. However, it wasn’t Ivana who told Roy Cohn this, as is shown in The Apprentice, but a jeweler who Cohn’s lover, Peter Fraser, had valued the cuff links after Cohn’s death. The suit accessories were even packaged in a real Bulgari box, at first hiding the fakes. Perhaps the only scenes we can say 100% definitely happened are some of the interview scenes where Trump is on T.V., such as when he says if he lost all his money he would run for office, and that is only because we can all see it with our own eyes in real life.
Overall, The Apprentice is already being viewed as one of the most controversial films of this decade and no doubt one of the most controversial biopics of all time. In the end, rather than facts leading the way, it would not be surprising if peoples’ political views shaped what they do or don’t believe as being true in The Apprentice. Roy Cohn’s political influence was far greater in real life, yet the film does make a valid case that the greatest impact he had on U.S., and even geopolitical, politics was what he created by giving Trump his three rules for winning.
The Apprentice is currently being shown in cinemas across the U.S.
In 1970s New York, a young Donald Trump, an ambitious heir of a wealthy family, is mentored by Roy Cohn, a ruthless attorney. Under Cohn’s influence, Trump navigates the complexities of power and ambition, shaping his future persona through a relentless pursuit of success and dominance.
- Release Date
- October 11, 2024
- Director
- Ali Abbasi
- Cast
- Sebastian Stan , Jeremy Strong , Maria Bakalova , Emily Mitchell , Martin Donovan , Patch Darragh , Stuart Hughes , Eoin Duffy , Chloe Madison , Ben Sullivan , Mark Rendall , Joe Pingue , Catherine McNally , Charlie Carrick , Jim Monaco , Bruce Beaton , Ian D. Clark , Valerie O’Connor , James Madge , Ron Lea , Edie Inksetter , Michael Hough , Robert J. Tavenor , Raechel Fisher , Stefanie Martino , Randy Thomas , Myron Ron Reider , Sharon Wilcox
- Runtime
- 123 Minutes
- Writers
- Gabriel Sherman
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