Inside the Fight to Release ‘The Apprentice’

The Apprentice is a Frankenstein origin story about Donald Trump , played by Sebastian Stan in heavy prosthetics and a golden toupee.

It follows Trump as he rises in Manhattan real estate during the gritty 1970s and gaudy ’ 80s under the tutelage of right-wing lawyer turned fixer Roy Cohn .

The biggest controversy centered on a scene that depicted Trump sexually assaulting his first wife, Ivana .

Trump 's legal threat followed the first rule Cohn elucidates in the movie: Attack, attack, attack.

In our hyperpolarized culture, in which Trump is either deified or demonized, portraying Trump as human was a radical act.

I wrote him as a three -dimensional character with hopes, dreams, fears, and (many) flaws.

No major Hollywood studio or streamer wanted to finance the film, but studios still passed.

The danger of making a Trump movie is that it easily could turn into an SNL parody.

Trump has been credibly accused of sexual assault by many women over the years .

The biggest issue was the sexual assault scene dramatized allegations Ivana made in a deposition during her 1990 divorce.