The Apprentice

"An American horror story."

2024 2h 2m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 1,055

HistoryDramaComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A young Donald Trump, eager to make his name as a hungry scion of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn, the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé—someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.

“An American horror story.”

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Cast

Sebastian Stan
Donald Trump
Jeremy Strong
Roy Cohn
Martin Donovan
Fred Trump
Maria Bakalova
Ivana Trump
Catherine McNally
Mary Anne Trump
Charlie Carrick
Freddy Trump
Ben Sullivan
Russell Eldridge
Mark Rendall
Roger Stone

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ali Abbasi
Writers: Gabriel Sherman
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America, United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Canada, Sweden

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 6 countries: United States of America, United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Canada, Sweden.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

235+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ali Abbasi, shot by Kasper Tuxen. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Martin Dirkov. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Olivia Neergaard-Holm shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong and Martin Donovan carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "An American horror story.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ali Abbasi directs. Kasper Tuxen behind the camera. Martin Dirkov scores. Olivia Neergaard-Holm cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Canada, Sweden. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 2 years ago.
2International production across 6 countries: United States of America, United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Canada, Sweden.
3235+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Ali Abbasi, shot by Kasper Tuxen. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Martin Dirkov. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Olivia Neergaard-Holm shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong and Martin Donovan carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "An American horror story.".
9IMDB entry: tt8368368 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 29 themes, including "new york city", "rape", "corruption", "aids".

The technical file

Cinematography: Kasper Tuxen
Original score: Martin Dirkov
Editing: Olivia Neergaard-Holm
Production design: Aleksandra Marinkovich
Costume design: Laura Montgomery
Makeup / hair: Michelle Côté
VFX supervisor: Anders Nyman
Sound: Per Boström
Stunt coordinator: Joel Labelle
Runtime: 122 min · 2h 2m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $16,000,000
Box office: $17,271,613
Return: 108% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Apprentice (2024)

Awards

Robert Award for Best English Language Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Ali Abbasi

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-10-09
★ 6/10
I was really quite disappointed with this. It focusses on the rise of Donald Trump, and in that role Sebastian Stan proves quite effective at mimicking some of the famous mannerisms of the man himself. The facial expressions and the habit of repeating himself to thrust home his point are well captured by this performance. The rest of it, though, came across as little better than crude, occasionally violent, speculation centred around his relationship with the celebrated, and much feared, attorney Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) whose thinly disguised homosexuality proves to be a more telling indictment of a New York that was beginning to come to terms with AIDS. Trump's rise from wealth to greater wealth and prosperity is skirted over too superficially with little meat put on the bones of his property acquisitions, developments and battles with an Ed Koch-led city hall, and it's all presented a bit too episodically weakly. Maria Bakalova acquits herself well enough as Ivana but as to the drama concerning the rest of his family, that's undercooked and I struggled to identify the accent(s) that seemed to be coming from his mother (Catherine McNally) as the importance of that torrid family unit struggles to impact on the story. For me, Strong steals his scenes and delivers well as the manipulative and scheming lawyer with few scruples, but the rest of this is all a bit of a soap that will probably polarise opinion as effectively as does Donald Trump himself.
Manuel São Bento2024-10-13
★ 7/10
FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://talkingfilms.net/the-apprentice-review-sebastian-stan-and-jeremy-strong-shine-in-a-provocative-bold-donald-trump-biopic/ "The Apprentice will leave no one indifferent. By crafting a provocative, uncompromising narrative about Donald Trump's early days, Ali Abbasi and Gabriel Sherman confront audiences with a raw, unsettling view of a man who shaped politics, business, his country, and the world with intense controversy and questionable morals. The exceptional, award-worthy performances from Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong elevate a bold script unafraid to incriminate a former - and perhaps future - POTUS in multiple ways, revealing shocking events from his life and career. It's a biopic that challenges the audience to reflect on the choices we make every day and just how far we're willing to go to achieve our dreams." Rating: B+
Chandler Danier2024-12-10
★ 8/10
Donnie Baby!!! Cool film about rich people doing rich people shit. But wait! It's the president of the EEUU. Great performances. Nice period specific film effects. Not sure how accurate it is but I assume 100% if the greatest country in the world tried to stop its release.