Controversial Trump film "The Apprentice" to hit theaters before US presidential election

Former US President Donald Trump during a press conference. [Xinua]

"The Apprentice," the controversial biographical drama film about young Donald Trump, the former U.S. president and the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, will hit U.S. and Canadian theatres in October, weeks before the presidential election in November, media reported on Friday.

Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired the hot-button film for a pre-election release on Oct. 11 and an awards push, reported The Hollywood Reporter, a top American entertainment industries magazine. Briarcliff Entertainment is an indie distributor based in Santa Monica, California.

Directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Vanity Fair's longtime Trump chronicler Gabriel Sherman, the film stars Emmy nominee Sebastian Stan as Trump.

"The Apprentice," which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, examines Trump's career as a real estate businessman in New York in the 1970s and the 1980s.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the biggest newspaper on the U.S. West Coast, the film bowed in competition at Cannes and immediately stoked controversy.

After the film's unveiling, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung blasted it as "garbage" and "pure fiction" and vowed to file a lawsuit against the filmmakers to derail its release, reported the newspaper.

Following its Cannes debut, "The Apprentice" secured distribution in Canada, Europe and parts of Asia, but the film faced uncertainty in the United States, as nervous studios, streamers and indie distributors hesitated to invite the wrath of Trump and his supporters, said the report.

After months of negotiations, though, Briarcliff stepped up and grabbed the film's domestic distribution rights, the report added.