By: Mark Aguilar 🇸🇻
Still from film image via IMDb
Premiering at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in May, The Apprentice made waves in the film industry for its portrayal of a young Donald Trump as he built his business empire during the 1970s in New York City. Played by Sebastian Stan, the film follows the relationship between Trump and his former mentor Roy Cohn, portrayed by Jeremy Strong.
As the title suggests, Donald Trump is “The Apprentice” to Roy Cohn as he teaches him the cutthroat methods that made him a powerful and successful businessman who does whatever it takes to win. The film also weaves in Trump’s relationships with his family and his first wife Ivana Trump, played by Maria Bakalova.
Directed by Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, the film received positive reviews from critics after its Cannes premiere and subsequent nationwide release. Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong’s performances in particular were considered standouts. The role of Donald Trump could be daunting for most, but Stan breathes new air into his portrayal. He does not do the signature Trump voice, but focuses and nails his speech mannerisms. It could be argued that this is one of the first Trump portrayals that successfully takes the role in a serious direction. Strong has the advantage that most people don’t know Roy Cohen, giving him more freedom when it comes to his portrayal.
However, because of its inherently controversial premise, along with its ambitions of releasing before a heated election year, no major film distributor wanted to buy it and play it in theaters. The film would have also come with more liabilities, as the Trump campaign threatened legal action against the film after its premiere in May.
“This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked, said Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesperson, to Variety.
Still from film. Image via the Los Angeles Times (Pief Weyman)
Despite rumblings that Trump’s team would take legal action against the film, Deadline reported that the Trump team walked away from the matter and hope it just fades away. Eventually, a smaller film distributor, Briarcliff Entertainment, picked up the film and gave it its Oct. 11 release date.
With everything in place for the film to finally be seen by audiences all around the country, no one showed up. It opened to only $1.6 million on its domestic opening weekend, and would only go on to gross $11.8 million worldwide. With a reported $16 million budget, the film will stand to lose millions after the end of its theatrical run. Despite its positive reviews, its well-known cast, and iconic subject matter, why did this film fail at attracting an audience?
Firstly, Briarcliff Entertainment was not capable of properly giving the film a worthy marketing campaign. The company even resorted to starting a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to release the film in as many theaters as possible. As noble as they were in trying everything they could to get the film out there, it was always doomed to financially fail.
Secondly, maybe some people simply did not want to see a Donald Trump biopic. An extremely divisive figure in the nation, people might not have wanted to see him be humanized in any way. Trump has also dominated the news and our screens for years now, so people may not have been willing to spend their money to see more of him. The film was released one month before the election, and people could have just been tired of him already.
Additionally, as awards season ramps up at the end of the year and actors campaign their films on the media circuit, Sebastian Stan was unable to secure a spot in Variety’s annual Actors on Actors because no other actor’s publicists or representatives wanted them to talk about the film.
Ultimately, the film achieves its goal of showcasing Trump’s lesser-known roots that made him the person he is today. However, it is unlikely the film swayed any undecided voters. Although the film does take a stand in showing the vile and cold-heartedness that becomes of the businessman towards the end, there are no real huge swings at the now president-elect. Time will tell if the film can reach a wider audience after its warnings about Donald Trump were ignored. The warnings of a man whose controversial origin story has shaped him into the person he is today.
コメント