Trump to sue over 'The Apprentice' biopic: 'Pure fiction and election interference,' claims campaign

"The Apprentice," a biographical film about Donald Trump, has ignited a firestorm of controversy following its recent premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. 

The film, directed by Ali Abbasi and starring Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump, delves into Trump's formative years in the New York real estate scene under the mentorship of Roy Cohn, portrayed by Jeremy Strong. 

Set between the early 1970s and mid-1980s, the film has not shied away from depicting its subject in a less than flattering light.

The Trump campaign has already announced plans to challenge the film legally. “We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement to Rolling Stone. 

Cheung condemned the film as "pure fiction" and labeled it as an attempt at "election interference by Hollywood elites."

Scenes from the film, particularly those depicting Trump receiving hair treatment for a bald spot, undergoing liposuction, and taking amphetamines, have been highlighted in early reviews from Cannes. Additionally, the film portrays a controversial sequence involving possibly non-consensual sex between Trump and his wife Ivana, played by Maria Bakalova. This portrayal refers to a real-life statement made by Ivana Trump in 1993, though she later recanted it.

“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,” Cheung added vehemently.

As "The Apprentice" continues to draw critical attention without a set US release date, the forthcoming legal actions by the Trump campaign are set to place the film further into the spotlight.