Starring: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan
Director: Ali Abbasi
Country: USA
UK Distributor: StudioCanal
There is absolutely no doubt that Donald Trump has become the most talked-about and most notorious figure in modern politics. Released just as Americans head to the polls, this is the third time that the US public have decided whether they want this billionaire oligarch as their President… and unsurprisingly, this warts-and-all biopic of the controversial far-right President has struggled to find funding. Made in collaboration between many small film companies, it has had to circumvent American studios to find release via international companies. And the result is both explosive and scathing.
The film begins in the 1970s, when the young Donald Trump (Stan – MCU, Pammy & Tommy) is taking his first steps into the cut-throat world of business. His father (Donovan – Big Little Lies) already owns a successful real-estate company, but Donald has aspirations on a much larger scale. Meeting the infamous Roy Cohn (Strong – Succession) he becomes the protégé of this ruthless lawyer, who teaches him how to lie, cheat and bribe his way to the top. Before long, Trump has become the most famous businessman in the city, with a huge property empire, lavish lifestyle and a beautiful wife, Ivana (Bakalova – Borat 2).
Impersonations of Donald Trump are everywhere nowadays, but what Sebastian Stan has produced is a far more astute performance that gradually morphs from a tentative but entitled young man into the behemoth caricature that he’s become. His recognisable gestures and vocal affectations emerge gradually, just as the actor himself transforms slowly into the Trump we now know.
Bakalova’s Ivana Trump is another strong performance, if a little underused. But the scene-stealer is undeniably Jeremy Strong, whose role as Cohn is a magnetic powerhouse of acting. A role made famous for international audiences by Al Pacino in Angels In America, this is a much more rounded depiction, showing the merciless lawyer as both charismatic and vicious. A closeted gay man who refused to come out as he saw homosexuality as a sign of weakness, his debauched lifestyle gives way to self-loathing in his decline, contracting HIV at the height of the AIDS Crisis. As Stan’s Trump rises into glorified grandeur, Strong’s Cohn falls from grace in a rapid decline, becoming a shade of his former detestable self.
The dynamic between Trump and Cohn sits at the heart of this film, with the latter’s mentorship sitting at the core of who Donald would become. We know President Trump’s philosophy from his mantra written in ‘The Art Of The Deal’, and this has been evident in everything he’s done since running for office in 2016. But here we see that this was actually Cohn’s philosophy, repackaged and repurposed to create the Monster that would overshadow his creator. The story of The Apprentice is basically Frankenstein, with Roy Cohn responsible for the entire Trumpism philosophy. And this revelation makes for a fascinating film.
As presidential biopics go, this is much more salacious than JFK or Nixon, plus it’s laden with the glamour of Trump’s golden years. But that only goes to underline why so many people have been seduced by his Character Cult over the last decade. This could easily have been a massive cinema release that profiles the world’s most famous man, but its small-scale limited theatre run only goes to show how scared the movie industry is to poke the golden bear. But while Trump threatened lawsuits to prevent this release, these protests rang hollow when part of his decades-old mantra is that any publicity is good publicity. And while this is hardly a sympathetic portrayal, it certainly humanises him and, at times, even makes him relatable.
There is an element of Amadeus here, where the mentor’s story is just as important as its subject. The cock-sure arrogance of Roy Cohn is transferred to Trump like passing the mantel from one despot to another. With all the shoulder-padded glamour of Wall Street America, this is an origin story that doesn’t shy away from the darker sides of his personality. We see sexual assault, drug usage, racist discrimination, HIV stigma and an abundance of egocentric megalomania. And while any other sitting politician would be terrified of a biopic such as this, it actually won’t make a blind bit of difference in the long-run. And those are the times we live in today.
UK Release: Out now to watch in cinemas, released by StudioCanal
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