Right from its announcement, The Apprentice has been one of the most talked about titles of the year. Many were surprised that this movie was even happening, including me. But after all the drama, the film is finally set to come out this year. It premiered at Cannes earlier this year, then Telluride and finally came to TIFF with an invite-only screening for a handful of critics, and The Hollywood Handle was one of the lucky ones to be able to see it..
Making a biopic about the notorious businessman turned politician was never going to be easy for a number of different reasons. However, Ali Abbasi assembled a strong cast including Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova and Martin Donovan to handle the daring task of portraying our characters on screen. The film mostly covers Trump’s rise to power as a businessman and hardly scratches the surface of his political career.
The disclaimer in the beginning that claims the events to be partially fictionalized for dramatic purposes” makes you wonder if the makers will hold back on showing the ugly side of Trump’s life, but Abbasi and Writer Gabriel Sherman go all-out. There’s no holding back, and there’s a fearlessness in their own vision for the movie which was very satisfying and intriguing to see. We see the ugliest sides of Donald throughout his rise to power, especially highlighting his ambition, narcissism and greed.
We start with a young Donald trying to come out of his father’s shadows in the 70s, and that’s when he meets Roy Cohn, who also takes an interest in him. He helps the Trump family with a lawsuit and quickly becomes some sort of a mentor figure to Donald, who is himself keen to make a place for him in the world of powerful men. Donald is attracted to Cohn’s persona, especially his fearlessness and ruthlessness, and starts to follow his 3 rules for success. Stan is sensational here and so is Strong. They perfectly captured their characters and the chemistry between them was spot on. Don’t be surprised if both of them are in Oscar conversation.
We waste no time in getting into the nitty gritty and we are thrown straight away into the world of corporate capitalism with the Trumps in crisis. Once the Cohn and get the taste for winning by any means, they get a taste for it and are quite willing to bend the rules to attain victory. Writer Gabriel Sherman’s screenplay just gets better and better with each segment and he makes sure that you’re invested in this story from the get go. The humor is also very consistent with clever dialogue effortlessly delivered by our leads.
His relationship with Ivana is probably the least interesting part of the movie, though one understands why it’s important to go down that alley. Maria Bakalova is good as Ivana but there’s nothing special in her performance. Martin Donovan as Fred Trump was another key part of the narrative, but that subplot also feels underbaked and had a lot more potential. For all the interesting elements to the storytelling that keep you hooked, in the end one does wonder if this movie truly offered anything new about USA’s 45th President, apart from what is already known or suspected in the general public.
The Apprentice is a daringly fascinating history lesson about Donald Trump’s rise to fame. Sebastian Stan delivers a career best performance supported by a electric Jeremy Strong. It might feel formulaic and does lack novelty, but you will surely be gripped and entertained by this stylistic and energetic character study irrespective of whether you’re a fan or a critic of Trump. You’ll truly understand why Trump didn’t want the movie coming out once you see it.
The Apprentice will release in theaters on October 11.
