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James Shani, whose new company Rich Spirit stepped in to help release Ali Abassi’s The Apprentice, was ebullient at the film’s New York premiere days ahead of a wide theatrical release. “We did it. I don’t know how many of you guys know what it took to get here,” he told a crowd at the DGA Theater in midtown.
The film, which chronicles the early rise to real estate moguldom of Donald Trump (played by Sebastian Stan) under the tutelage of Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), hit turbulence after producer-financier Kinematics — some of whose projects, including The Apprentice, have been backed by Trump supporter Dan Snyder — decided to exit the film. Trump’s attorneys, meanwhile, issued a vitriolic cease-and-desist letter and threatened to sue Abassi. So after screening to critical acclaim at Cannes, Telluride and TIFF, the film remained in limbo until Tom Ortenberg‘s Briarcliff Entertainment, backed by Shani, picked it up for U.S. distribution.
“A shout out to the only distributor and the only person that had the balls to get us here,” Shani said at the event Tuesday night.
“It’s really sad to think that in today’s world, with everything going on, that it took a person who had spent, 20 to 30 years building his career to put his neck out and put resources out, and that he was literally the only one. I think that says a lot about the time that we’re in.”
He followed Ortenberg, who spoke first and briefly, thanking Shani and the film’s producers, director and cast for crafting “a truly extraordinary motion picture.”
“I want to ask you all to please talk about the movie. Please post about it on socials … as somebody once said, it takes a village.”
Journalist and The Apprentice screenwriter Gabriel Sherman, described the chaotic trajectory. “I booked a ticket to go to the Telluride Film Festival where this movie was supposed to make its North American premiere, and I didn’t even know if the movie was going to play because we were still tangled up with our financier who wasn’t releasing the movie to allow us to screen it. So, I was like, okay, I guess I’ll either see my movie or I’ll just see a bunch of other great movies …. I’ve had to not have any expectations with this movie just to stay sane,” he said.
“I haven’t worked much in Hollywood, but everyone who’s worked on this movie who has worked in Hollywood, I heard it a lot of times, they would say, ‘I’ve never seen this before’.”
Iranian-Danish filmmaker Abassi said he doesn’t view the U.S. political system along the party lines. “I don’t buy this sort of, you know, Democrats are the savior and Republicans are evil. Or Republicans are patriots, and [Democrats are] not. And therefore, I think it’s much easier for me to see these people as human beings.”
Trump in fact as played by Stan is a mix of charming and shy, troubled and insecure, arrogant and angry, a creative dealmaker with vision, narcissitic, cruel, self-serving, at times grief stricken. In a brutal scene, he sexually assaults his wife Ivana, played by Maria Bakalova.
Abassi finds it “interesting” that the movie has been called controversial. “You know, think about it. We’re talking about a person who is actually, you know, convicted in civil court of sexual assault. So that’s not me. That’s the information really available. … The scene “is based on a deposition under oath by Ivan Trump at the time.”
“At some point you go, there is ample evidence there that there is a pattern. If we hold up a mirror … you can break the mirror, I guess, if you want, but that image is not going to go away.”
“It’s controversial. But it shouldn’t be. It’s another point in the journey of the same character. It’s the same guy who got the tax [abatements]. He’s the same guy who also was smart. It’s the same guy who also was charming. And he’s the same guy who was on Oprah and in the New York Times.”
Sherman hopes the movie will make people “actually just look … just actually pay attention” because “we’re so inundated with information about Donald Trump — 24/7 news, internet, social media — and we all become numb to the actual details of his behavior.”
“When we see it in front of us, we can all recognize what it is, it’s horrific,” he said. “And I hope that this film makes people sit in a quiet, dark theater and look with their own eyes at the behavior of the man that we might elect to be the next President.”