It is no surprise that the entertainment industry often clashes with certain political figures. The Apprentice is a prime example of this. The film explores the early career of former president Donald Trump and his relationship with Roy Cohn, an influential  New York lawyer during the 1970s and 1980s. After the premiere, Trump’s legal team issued a cease and desist letter to the filmmakers. Given what we know about Trump and his legal team, this could be seen as expected. 

The Iranian-Danish director of the film, Ali Abbasi remains certain that Trump’s legal team is not going to take any serious legal action towards the film because the film was carefully fact-checked, both journalistically and legally. 

The New York screening attracted stars such as Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, and Maria Bakalova, along with Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen. Cohen shared some interesting thoughts on how he thought Trump might respond to the movie. Cohen suggested that Trump’s reaction would depend on the reviews because Trump tends to avoid discussions about things he opposes. Why? Because these discussions would draw more attention to them.

While Trump’s legal team has pushed back against the film, Trump himself has given little public response to it. He is getting closer to the 2024 election (approximately 20 days), therefore it appears to be a calculated move to avoid fueling this publicity.