The Apprentice Trailer: Sebastian Stan is young Donald Trump learning the ropes of business

Distributor Briarcliff Entertainment dropped the trailer for The Apprentice, the film based on Donald Trump's early life as a media person, a while ago. Sebastian Stan stars as Trump in the Ali Abbasi directorial, which recently premiered at the Telluride Film Festival amid legal threats from the former American president's team. The trailer shows how Jeremy Strong's character Roy Cohn guides a young Trump in handling business negotiations.

The official logline reads, "A young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan), eager to make his name as a hungry second son of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protege—someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win."

The film also stars Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump and Martin Donovan as Fred Trump Sr.

The Apprentice had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, after which its financier Kinematics, whom Trump supporter Dan Snyder backs, got so offended by the portrayal of Trump in the film that it even took legal action against its makers. However, it had a premiere at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival without any trouble. At the time, director Abbasi stated that The Apprentice is no "political hit piece" which, judging by the trailer, seems true. The trailer has punk rock music in the background and hints at a film that only portrays Trump's ascension to the top of the media world.

The Apprentice will have a theatrical release on October 11.