Controversial Trump Biopic ‘The Apprentice’ Finally Gets a Release Date Despite Efforts to Block Its Release

Screenshot via Apprentice Productions Ontario Inc

The Apprentice, Ali Abbasi’s very buzzed-about movie about the early career of former President Donald Trump will hit theaters before November’s presidential election after Trump’s campaign and supporters tried to stop its release.

The controversial biopic starring Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as infamous lawyer Roy Cohn will be released on October 11, 2024, a date that was reported first by The Hollywood Reporter on Friday. It was acquired by Tom Ortenberg’s Briarcliff Entertainment, which bought out Dan Snyder’s Kinematics interest in the film.

The Apprentice, which was written by Trump biographer Gabriel Sherman and directed by Abbasi, was partially funded by Snyder, a billionaire Trump donor and former owner of the Washington Redskins (now the Washington Commanders) who became so “furious” about the movie after seeing a cut of the movie in February. He originally believed it was going to be a more flattering portrayal of Trump as a young man, but when it painted a much different picture of the ex-president, he tried to prevent it from ever being released.

The Trump campaign also threatened to sue to stop the film from being released. In a statement, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said: “This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.” He also called the possible pre-election release of the film “election interference by Hollywood elites.”

The Apprentice premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and received an eight-minute standing ovation.