“ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK”: RULES THAT PAVED THE WAY FOR DONALD TRUMP’S RISE TO POWER IN THE APPRENTICE

National, October 2024: Get ready to witness a young Donald Trump’s journey to dominate the cutthroat world of real estate, under the ruthless mentorship of the legal tycoon and political fixer Roy Cohn, with just four rules and his relentless drive, as PVRINOX Pictures is all set to release The Apprentice in theatres across India on 18th October.

The highly anticipated film, which premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival to an 8-minute standing ovation, is directed by acclaimed Iranian-Danish filmmaker, Ali Abbasi. Touted as one of 2024’s most notorious non-biopics, The Apprentice marks Abbasi’s English-language debut, featuring a stellar cast with Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump, Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, and Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. Focusing on the 1970s and early 1980s’ rough business scene in New York, the film explores the powerful bond between Donald Trump and Roy Cohn, and how it shaped Trump’s path to becoming one of the most prominent figures in contemporary American history.

Ahead of the film’s theatrical release, screenwriter and Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman highlights how Donald Trump, even during his presidential campaign, continued to employ Roy Cohn’s aggressive strategies to manipulate power to his advantage. “Roy taught him how to use the press, that keeping your name in the news was a way to get power,” Sherman states.

The trailer outlines these “tactics” distilled into Cohn’s unyielding rules for winning:

Rule 1 – Attack. Attack. Attack.

Rule 2 – Admit nothing. Deny everything.

Rule 3 – Claim victory and never admit defeat

Rule 4 – You have to be willing to do anything, to anyone, to win

Producer Amy Baer elaborates on this, noting, “Roy always strove to bend reality to his worldview, but he wasn’t the right package to sell that story.” She continues, “In Donald, he found the perfect apprentice—good-looking, rich, ambitious—to mold into the ideal creature that reflected all he stood for.”

Actor Jeremy Strong, who portrays Cohn’s character, shares further insights into the character’s complexities. He explains, “Roy loved to tell people that Donald was his ‘best friend,’” Strong adds, “And look—Roy was vicious, ruthless and cruel, and many believed he was an unrepentant monster. But… he was the product of a loveless marriage and spent his life shoring up an inner emptiness with a voracious desire to accumulate clout and power as a protection against his own self-hatred and shame for his homosexuality. He was complex and perhaps irredeemably flawed, but like all people, he wanted to be loved. And I believe he found, and later lost, that in his relationship with Donald Trump.”

The Apprentice delves into the gritty underbelly of New York’s business scene, charting Donald Trump’s early rise in real estate. The film seems to expose how Trump’s success was driven by a dangerous alliance with Roy Cohn. Through their tangled partnership, it unveils the shadowy forces that shaped Trump’s path to power and his eventual influence in US politics.

Don’t miss the horror story of relentless ambition and power in The Apprentice, releasing in theatres near you on 18th October!