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The Apprentice filmmakers have launched a Kickstarter campaign to ensure Ali Abbasi’s Donald Trump film, one of the hottest tickets in Telluride, reaches its widest audience when it opens less than one month before the US presidential election.
Crowdfunding campaign ‘Release The Apprentice’ comes days after it was confirmed that Briarcliff Entertainment has set an October 11 US release for the dramatised account of Trump’s formative relationship with mentor Roy Cohn. Trump contests the election with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on November 5.
Donations will mostly be funnelled into marketing costs to support the feature, which reportedly cost in the region of $16m to make.
Campaign features tiered reward levels based on donation amounts, including a $25 sum which earns a stream of the film after it opens theatrically, and a $100 donation which can get an end credit.
Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong star as Trump and Cohn, with Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. Higher level pledges include one of three toupees worn by Stan on screen, and VIP tickets to attend the film’s premiere in New York.
Donors will receive an official “Backer Badge Kit” design to promote the film and the campaign.
“The Apprentice is first and foremost humanist, which makes it radically different from all the political noise,” said executive producer Amy Baer.
“Despite the integrity of the film and without even seeing it, Trump’s campaign sought to suppress it,” added Dan Bekerman, a producer on the film. “The idea that artists can no longer freely criticise the powerful should concern us all. We need your help to resoundingly reject this dangerous precedent.”
Trump’s attorneys tried to block a US deal on Abbasi’s Cannes world premiere yet Briarcliff came on board and a release appears to be going ahead after executive producer James Shani, whose company Rich Spirit is among the film’s backers, solved another problem.
It bought out Kinematics’ stake in the film. Dan Snyder, the billionaire Trump donor and former owner of the Washington Commanders American Football team, owns a piece of Kinematics and was said to have been angered by the tone of the film and reportedly tried to block its release.
In a statement on Tuesday, Kinematics founder Mark Rapaport cited “creative differences” as the reason why his company exited.
Briarcliff CEO Tom Ortenberg, a veteran distributor of challenging fare, had not announced distribution plans at time of writing.
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