Mexico City.- Independent distributor Tom Ortenberg didn’t think he had a chance of landing the rights to Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice when he saw it debut to wild applause at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
But it turns out that no one else wanted the Ali Abbasi-directed film, starring Sebastian Stan as Trump in the early years of his business career, and Jeremy Strong as U.S. Attorney Roy Cohn. The Apprentice shows Trump getting liposuction, taking amphetamines, and sexually assaulting his then-wife Ivana.
Trump’s presidential campaign has threatened legal action to block its release. Dan Snyder, a billionaire financier of the film and a Trump donor, also tried to block its release after realizing that it did not offer a flattering portrait of the former president. Snyder ended up selling his stake in the film. Ortenberg’s Briarcliff Entertainment was the only company to make a compelling offer to distribute the film, which opens in U.S. theaters on October 11.
“It’s a really fantastic image (of Trump) and you have to see it,” Ortenberg said in an interview.
Ortenberg’s bet is typical of Briarcliff’s business model. Since its founding in 2018, the film production and distribution company has created a list of titles that are often loved by critics and audiences, but rejected by traditional Hollywood sectors. The company acquires exhibition rights at prices lower than those that would be paid in competitive auctions and recovers a percentage of box office sales. In the coming months, Briarcliff will try to raise between $25 million and $50 million in exchange for a minority stake in the business. Ortenberg will remain the majority shareholder of the company. Earlier this month, Briarcliff bought the rights to distribute Magazine Dreams, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023 but was ultimately abandoned by Walt Disney Co.’s Searchlight Pictures after lead actor Jonathan Majors , was found guilty of assaulting and harassing his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. Ortenberg, former president of film at Lions Gate Studios Corp. and founder of film studio Open Road Films, describes himself as a “free speech absolutist.” He said Majors’ performance, as well as that of other cast members, deserves the same distribution opportunity as any other film that is not mired in controversy. Ortenberg, a donor to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, is willing to participate in films no matter where they fall on the political spectrum. In 2016, the same year he endorsed Bernie Sanders for president, Ortenberg met with political commentator and conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza and made him an offer to distribute his documentary Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party , even though he didn’t agree with the film’s right-wing tropes. Briarcliff didn’t end up acquiring the rights to Hillary’s America, but over the years Ortenberg has distributed films equally freely. These include Michael Moore’s documentaries, Fahrenheit 9/11; Bryan Fogel’s documentary about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, The Dissident; and Spotlight, about systematic child sexual abuse by numerous priests in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 2016. Ortenberg said The Apprentice is “clearly going to be an award contender.” And despite the controversy, it should appeal to a broad electorate, Ortenberg said, as Trump supporters will likely identify with the man portrayed on screen and Trump’s opponents will likely be “disgusted” by him. The film’s release, a month before the election, is not intended as a political statement, but simply a marketing strategy to boost ticket sales, he said. “I’m a little saddened and disappointed that there aren’t more people in Hollywood willing to distribute controversial films,” Ortenberg said. “But I’m happy and excited to be here and be able to do it. It’s been a very good business.”
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