While at the Toronto International Film Festival, we were given an opportunity to view a hush-hush screening of the Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice. Focusing on his, let’s call them “Formative Years”, this film drills down to The Donald as he wheels and deals in the 1970’s and 1980’s. His relationships and choices in the film leaving breadcrumbs to the current Ex-President will have many discussing validity and bias, whether fully true or not.
The film starts and ends with two main performances, namely Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn. A young Trump facing family, allegations and early-onset gravitas is wheeling and dealing as his dream of power and the title of real estate mogul hang just out of reach. Enter Roy Cohn, the once famous litigator that defines ruthless as winning is the only option.
Truth becomes malleable in Cohn’s hands as he twists facts into double-edged swords. Seeing an opportunity in a young Trump, he invests and imparts his guide to winning. Leaving weaponized wisdom at a young Trump’s feet. Strong doing everything in his power to make slimy a fashion accessory as victims are targeted and minor missteps become canyons for once friends.
Landmark history gets told through the creators lens with Trump and the building blocks that may have made him, on full display. Did Cohn really teach Donald to always declare victory, even when losing? Or to leverage every situation with little to no remorse? On film, the relationship seems possible and historical as the filmmakers package the present and hindsight together to help define the current man we all see.
We also see Trump chase after a young Czech girl named Ivanka Zelníčková, wooing her with gifts and glimpses of power. Sebastian Stan is never more in character as when he leads with bravado in this romantic endeavor. Seemingly working to build a love life in the same way that real estate builds its holdings.
Make no mistake though, this film lives and dies with the performances that Strong and Stan deliver. From the curl of Stan’s lips and waft of the wig he wears, to the cold reptilian stare that Jeremy delivers from the soul of a man that already ate you for lunch and you just don’t know it yet. The viewer of this film will most likely be biased, as that’s the current world and climate we live in. so the question isn’t necessarily what you believe, so much as to which parts can or could you believe.
The Apprentice movie trailer
Derek's Review
Score
Score
A film defined by building blocks and interpretation asking audiences to create a monster or a martyr.