Lawyers for Donald Trump have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the producers of the biopic The Apprentice in an effort to prevent the sale and distribution of the film. After the movie — which stars Sebastian Stan as the then-young real estate scion alongside Jeremy Strong as infamous Trump lawyer Roy Cohn — debuted earlier this week at the Cannes Film Festival, Team Trump threatened to file a lawsuit against The Apprentice for its unsavory and “pure fiction” portrayal of the mogul-turned-president. With the film festival wrapping up and producers looking at distribution deals, Variety reported that Trump’s lawyers preemptively fired off the cease-and-desist letter, perhaps in an effort to scare off potential suitors.
“This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire,” Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said in a statement. However, producers for The Apprentice — which shares its title with Trump’s long-running reality competition — said in a statement responding to the cease-and-desist letter (via Variety ), “The film is a fair and balanced portrait of the former president. We want everyone to see it and then decide.
” Following The Apprentice ’s premiere, director Ali Abbasi invited the notoriously litigious Trump to watch the movie himself bef.
