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The new Donald Trump movie "The Apprentice" was released generally in North America late last week.
It stars Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump (beginning in early 1970s, when Trump was in his mid-20s), and Jeremy Strong as his nasty fixer lawyer mentor Roy Cohn (1927 -- 1986). Both actors turn in excellent performances, and their very powerful interplay carries the film throughout its two-hour length.
As the film progresses, the young Trump becomes more and more like Cohn in personality, and this degeneration is coupled with Trump's rise to much greater wealth and power.
Trump at the time was a vice-president in his father Fred Sr.'s very successful New York City real estate firm, but still having to perform such menial tasks as rent collection in person on debtor tenants. He dreams of much more. Cohn, about 20 years older, was a major-league lawyer for the powerful (on all sides of the law) in New York City and beyond. Cohn approaches Trump and helps him in several important cases, using not-always aboveboard methods. The two connect and bond. At an early party, Cohn states, "If you're indicted, you're invited!"
The film is fast paced, and moves through to the late 1980s in its duration. Trump opens his first big Manhattan hotel, the Grand Hyatt, on the site of a former run-down hotel, the Commodore, after arranging a nine-figure tax abatement from the City of New York, then threatened with bankruptcy. Trump has a vision to restore the city to prominence, and he follows through with building the grandiose Trump Tower, also in Manhattan. His wealth and prominence escalate him into national fame, private jets, exotic vacations, and more. He also starts to move into the business of running new casinos in New Jersey, which eventually lead him into multiple bankruptcies, but this downfall happens after the film's timeline.
Trump's love life as a wealthy playboy settles down when he marries his first wife Ivana, a lovely young Czech model. She balks at a pre-nuptial agreement which Cohn is pushing. Ivana, who passed away two years ago, is an aspiring interior designer, and builds some success in that field. She is the mother of Donald Junior, Ivanka, and Eric, but files for divorce, alleging a rape by Donald (shown to brutal effect in the film).
Both Cohn and Trump are revealed in the film as nasty operators, and the R-rated film is most certainly not for those seeking a sugar-and-spice type of plot. However, I believe the film is a fair representation of Trump's life in that era, well before he entered electoral politics in 2015.
I don't think the film will persuade many undecideds to vote for Trump for president in 2024, and may persuade some possible Trump supporters to change their minds. Trump's team tried to block its release, and threatened to sue its producers. Hasn't happened yet!
It stars Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump (beginning in early 1970s, when Trump was in his mid-20s), and Jeremy Strong as his nasty fixer lawyer mentor Roy Cohn (1927 -- 1986). Both actors turn in excellent performances, and their very powerful interplay carries the film throughout its two-hour length.
As the film progresses, the young Trump becomes more and more like Cohn in personality, and this degeneration is coupled with Trump's rise to much greater wealth and power.
Trump at the time was a vice-president in his father Fred Sr.'s very successful New York City real estate firm, but still having to perform such menial tasks as rent collection in person on debtor tenants. He dreams of much more. Cohn, about 20 years older, was a major-league lawyer for the powerful (on all sides of the law) in New York City and beyond. Cohn approaches Trump and helps him in several important cases, using not-always aboveboard methods. The two connect and bond. At an early party, Cohn states, "If you're indicted, you're invited!"
The film is fast paced, and moves through to the late 1980s in its duration. Trump opens his first big Manhattan hotel, the Grand Hyatt, on the site of a former run-down hotel, the Commodore, after arranging a nine-figure tax abatement from the City of New York, then threatened with bankruptcy. Trump has a vision to restore the city to prominence, and he follows through with building the grandiose Trump Tower, also in Manhattan. His wealth and prominence escalate him into national fame, private jets, exotic vacations, and more. He also starts to move into the business of running new casinos in New Jersey, which eventually lead him into multiple bankruptcies, but this downfall happens after the film's timeline.
Trump's love life as a wealthy playboy settles down when he marries his first wife Ivana, a lovely young Czech model. She balks at a pre-nuptial agreement which Cohn is pushing. Ivana, who passed away two years ago, is an aspiring interior designer, and builds some success in that field. She is the mother of Donald Junior, Ivanka, and Eric, but files for divorce, alleging a rape by Donald (shown to brutal effect in the film).
Both Cohn and Trump are revealed in the film as nasty operators, and the R-rated film is most certainly not for those seeking a sugar-and-spice type of plot. However, I believe the film is a fair representation of Trump's life in that era, well before he entered electoral politics in 2015.
I don't think the film will persuade many undecideds to vote for Trump for president in 2024, and may persuade some possible Trump supporters to change their minds. Trump's team tried to block its release, and threatened to sue its producers. Hasn't happened yet!
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