Collider said the quiet part out loud.
“Whatever I can do to help people watch [‘The Apprentice’], I will do” – Steven Weintraub, Collider
He tried. And he wasn’t alone.
The corporate press pulled out all the stops to promote “The Apprentice,” Hollywood’s latest attack on Donald Trump. Story after story after story. Fawning interviews. False claims that the film is a fair assessment of Trump’s rise to power.
The latter is Hollywood fiction.
“The Apprentice” couldn’t crack the Top 10 in its debut frame, earning a pathetic $1.5 million from 1,740 screens for 11th place. “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” released 31 years ago, earned more on fewer screens ($2.1 million, 1,700).
The film follows a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) as he learns his corrupt ways under the tutelage of shady lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong, “Succession”).
“The Apprentice” goes out of its way to demonize its subject in small and huge ways. The controversial rape scene speaks for itself. Director Ali Abbasi fought to keep that in the finished cut despite legal pressure from Team Trump.
Ivana Trump denies the rape happened, twice, after initially making the accusation in court. Abbasi and co. know better, apparently. An artist eager to tell a balanced story would certainly leave out a questionable detail, no?
No?
Other scenes exist to mock Trump with unfounded charges. Consider moments focusing on the mogul’s hair transplants and liposuction surgeries. Did the real Trump undergo either or both?
It’s possible. It’s also not backed by facts. The scenes exist for a simple reason. Humiliate Trump as much as possible.
Tell that to the corrupt press, which has been pretending that “The Apprentice” is a sober, and accurate take on Young Trump.
Here’s the far-left Deadline pretending just that while blaming MAGA nation for the film’s failure:
The Trump campaign clearly sent a message to its faithful that this movie was anti-Trump even if the movie’s intent was to present an even-handed take on the man who would become POTUS.
Did Deadline see the movie? Why report on its intent, when that could just be studio spin?
Naturally, Washington Post film critic Ty Burr hated the "Reagan" movie as too soft and bland...and then he likes the Trump movie "The Apprentice," but it's just not harsh enough!https://t.co/snm8K9h1aX
— MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) October 13, 2024
Politico, the news outlet that dubbed our Inflation Age as a “dream” economy, swears the film isn’t a hit piece in a recent subhead.
Sure, Jan.
Politico even acknowledges the studio’s spin on the film.
'It’s just a movie about a human being,' director Ali Abbasi told me this week, reprising a theme about nuance that his team has used to rebut claims that they made an election-season hit piece.
Yes, a film hitting theaters weeks before Election Day which shows Trump raping his wife is meant as a nuanced look at the leader. It’s so fair and balanced that Politico compares Stan’s Trump to a young Darth Vader.
Politico repeatedly says (wishes?) the film could tip the balance in the upcoming election. The film’s pathetic box office results suggest that the wish won’t come true.
The Untold Story Behind the Release of 'The Apprentice' https://t.co/sMIIH8b5xN
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 9, 2024
Even the Wall Street Journal didn’t challenge Abbasi’s spin about the film’s balanced nature.
Trump is no saint. Making a connection between him and Roy Cohn, brilliantly played by Strong, is a more than reasonable gimmick for a movie like this.
The actual film remains a hit piece. Every time a scene suggests Trump has a flicker of humanity, the rug is pulled out from under him. And the viewer.
And that’s fine. That’s the story Abassi wanted to tell, and he has every right to tell it.
The media should just stop lying and give us the truth.
