Donald Trump’s legal threats against Ali Abbasi’s ‘The Apprentice’ prove false as election release takes shape

The Apprentice film defies legal threats from Trump's team, screened at Telluride Film Festival, set for U.S. release.

Despite the legal threats from Donald Trump’s team, The Apprentice successfully screened at the Telluride Film Festival on Saturday night, signaling that the former president’s bluster has, once again, failed to materialize into action. The film, directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Gabriel Sherman, faced intense pushback from Trump’s camp earlier this year, following its debut at the Cannes Film Festival.

Trump’s attorneys at the Dhillon Law Group had issued a cease-and-desist letter demanding that the film cease all distribution and marketing efforts, labeling it a “concoction of lies” and a form of “foreign interference in America’s elections.”

However, with The Apprentice set for a U.S. release on or near October 11 through Briarcliff Entertainment, it appears Trump’s team has backed down from their legal threats. Sources close to the situation suggest that Trump’s camp may be hoping the controversy will fade away, though the possibility of a lawsuit remains. For now, the First Amendment seems to be on the filmmakers’ side.

The film, starring Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as his notorious mentor Roy Cohn, was screened to a packed house at Telluride’s Galaxy Theater. Abbasi, addressing the 500-strong audience, asserted that The Apprentice “is not a political hit piece.”

As Trump’s campaign heats up with a tight race against Kamala Harris, the silence on the legal front regarding The Apprentice contrasts sharply with the aggressive rhetoric that has defined Trump’s approach. The screening at Telluride marks a big step forward for the film, despite the former president’s attempts to halt its progress.