Presumably operating from the philosophical position that you can only get so wet, in terms of, uh, ongoing legal action, the Donald Trump campaign has reportedly lobbed a cease and desist order at , Ali Abbasi’s cinematic depiction of the relationship between Trump (played by Sebastian Stan) and his real-estate mentor Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong, in his first major role since ended last year). The film debuted this week at Cannes, to moderately strong reviews—many holding out especial praise for Strong—but despite the man’s historical obsession with ratings and reviews, the Trump people clearly aren’t happy, moving to try to block from ever being shown in the United States. , which reports that Trump’s team sent the film’s producers—currently seeking American distribution—a letter on May 22, calling their movie “a concoction of lies” and stating that they’ll take “all appropriate legal remedies” to stop distribution of this “libelous farce.
” Abbasi is also accused at one point of making “racist, Marxist, and otherwise disparaging statements against President Trump in 2018,” and the film as a whole is accused of being “direct foreign interference in America’s elections.” Among other things, the cease and desist asserts that Abbisi’s film “presents itself as a factual biography of Mr. Trump,” although we can’t imagine anyone involved actually believes that’s true; behind the ridiculous fantasy that Trump could ever have looked li.
