Los Angeles:

A controversial biopic of Donald Trump that depicts the former president raping his wife and which has drawn legal threats from his attorneys will hit US theaters this October, it was reported Friday.

Tiny indie studio Briarcliff Entertainment plans to release “The Apprentice” for US audiences less than a month before Trump takes on Kamala Harris in the country’s razor-tight presidential election, the Hollywood Reporter said.

Representatives for Briarcliff did not immediately respond to AFP queries.

The explosive film about Trump’s younger years caused shockwaves at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Its most talked about scene shows Trump raping his first wife, Ivana, after she belittles him for growing fat and bald.

In real life, Ivana accused Trump of raping her during divorce proceedings but later rescinded the allegation. She died in 2022.

The movie also shows Trump suffering erectile dysfunction, and undergoing liposuction and surgery for hair loss.

Just hours after “The Apprentice” premiered in May, Trump’s lawyers vowed to sue the producers, calling the film “garbage” and “pure malicious defamation.”

Further complicating the film’s prospects for US release is that one of its early financial backers was pro-Trump billionaire Dan Snyder, who was reportedly displeased with its depiction of Trump and sought to block the movie.

He has now been bought out of his financial stake in the movie, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The film is set to be released in US theaters October 11, the Los Angeles Times said.

Sebastian Stan’s lead performance as young New York property tycoon Trump received largely positive reviews at Cannes.

The film’s screenplay was written by Gabriel Sherman, a journalist who covered real estate for the New York Observer and regularly spoke to Trump.

Far from a simple hatchet job, the film depicts Trump as an ambitious but naive social climber desperately trying to navigate the cutthroat world of Manhattan property deals and politics.

The Times of London argued it would “make you feel sympathy for Trump.”

But Trump’s decency is gradually eroded as he learns the dark arts of dealmaking and power from his mentor Roy Cohn, played by “Succession” star Jeremy Strong.

Film director Ali Abbasi told AFP he included the rape scene to show how Trump distanced himself from “human relationships that define him and that hold him in check as a human being.”

Stan, best known from the Marvel superhero movies, added that Trump’s early behavior “is much more relatable than we want to admit.”

Briarcliff Entertainment launched in the late 2010s. Its founder Tom Ortenberg previously helped steer Oscar campaigns for best picture winners “Spotlight” and “Crash.”

He is expected to promote “The Apprentice” in Hollywood’s upcoming award season.

The news comes on the same day “Reagan,” another biopic of a former Republican president, Ronald Reagan, hits US theaters.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Donald Trump’s team has vowed to sue over a biopic about his early years that includes rape, erectile dysfunction and ruthless betrayal, but the makers said on May 21 the film allowed viewers to feel “sympathy” with the ex-president.

The Apprentice, which premiered Monday at the Cannes Film Festival, traces Mr. Trump’s origins as an ambitious young property developer in 1970s and 1980s New York.

Sebastian Stan, best known from Marvel superhero films, stars as Mr. Trump, while Jeremy Strong of Succession fame plays his ruthless mentor and attorney Roy Cohn.

Both received glowing reviews from critics.

The film offers a nuanced account of Mr. Trump, depicted as an ambitious but naive social climber in the first half, before his decency is eroded as he learns the dark arts of dealmaking and power.

“Donald’s team should wait to watch the movie before they start suing us,” director Ali Abbasi told reporters in Cannes.

“I don’t necessary think this is a movie that he would dislike… I think he would be surprised,” Mr. Abbasi said.

But Mr. Trump’s campaign communications director Steven Cheung said a lawsuit would be filed “to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers”.

“This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalises lies that have been long debunked,” added Mr. Cheung in a statement to AFP.

‘Attack, attack, attack’

The most controversial scene is that of Mr. Trump raping his first wife, Ms. Ivana, after she belittles him for growing fat and bald.

In real life, Ms. Ivana accused Mr. Trump of raping her during divorce proceedings but later rescinded the allegation. She died in 2022.

Mr. Abbasi was unflustered in Cannes, saying: “Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people. They don’t talk about his success rate.”

The Apprentice premiered while Mr. Trump is on trial in Manhattan for a tawdry scandal involving a porn star.

It comes just months ahead of the U.S. presidential election in which Mr. Trump is expected to face Joe Biden.

“We have a promotional event coming up called the U.S. elections that is going to help us with the movie,” joked Mr. Abbasi, suggesting it could be released around the second Biden-Trump debate in September.

The Apprentice begins with a young Trump, obsessed with joining the city’s elite and dreaming of his own luxury hotel, even as he spends his days collecting rent from his father’s tenants.

His life is transformed by an encounter with Cohn, whose nihilistic lessons such as “admit nothing, deny everything” and “attack, attack, attack” will become Mr. Trump’s manifesto in later life.

Cohn made his name as a fearsome lawyer by hunting Communists for Senator Joseph McCarthy, and sending Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair.

Mr. Abbasi said the film aimed at “deconstructing the mythological image” of these characters and showing them as real human beings.

“With that comes understanding. With that comes sympathy. That doesn’t necessarily mean you forgive everything they did.”

“The most despicable monster you can think of, the most reprehensible person in history, also liked a dog or fell for somebody or was nice to somebody at some point.”

‘Rock certain boats’

The screenplay was written by Gabriel Sherman, a journalist who covered real estate for the New York Observer and regularly spoke to Mr. Trump.

He said the film was blocked by top Hollywood executives, and it was ultimately funded by the Canadian, Irish and Danish governments.

“We couldn’t make it in the American system,” Mr. Sherman said.

“Hollywood in many ways doesn’t want to rock certain boats.”

The film is one of 22 in competition for the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.

A jury headed by Barbie director Greta Gerwig will unveil its winner on Saturday.

Asked whether it was possible for an American woman to be objective in judging a film about Mr. Trump, Ms. Gerwig said she would come to the movie with “an open mind and an open heart, and willing to be surprised”.

Among the current frontrunners is The Substance, an ultra-gory horror film about the pressures women face to maintain bodily perfection as they age.

Demi Moore has earned particular praise for her lead role.

Also earning rave reviews is Emilia Perez, a highly audacious musical about a Mexican narco boss undergoing a sex change.