Hollywood Reporter – Daniel Bekerman and Amy Baer talk about the legal threats from Trump that spooked distributors and why crowdfunding was right for their film: “We wanted to do whatever we could to make sure that the movie was seen.”
* NOTE: If you want to donate to the kickstarter click here: RELEASE THE APPRENTICE
Yesterday, the filmmakers behind Donald Trump movie The Apprentice launched a Kickstarter campaign to assist with the October theatrical release of the film with a goal of raising $100,000. A day later, it has already topped that goal, raising more than $139,000 for the campaign, dubbed “Release The Apprentice.”
A Kickstarter campaign is not the go-to move for a splashy, albeit independently financed, feature with award-winning stars like Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong, and a debut at the Cannes Film Festival. But The Apprentice has had a long and embattled journey to get to theaters.
Since the film’s festival debut, its potential release has been mired in uncertainty. Dan Snyder, the pro-Trump billionaire, is involved with Kinematics, the company that put up equity for the film against domestic rights. Snyder was reportedly was displeased with the film’s depiction of Trump and sought to block its release. After the film’s Cannes debut, Trump’s lawyers sent a cease and desist letter also in an attempt to block the film’s release.
The Apprentice, from director Ali Abbasi, explores Donald Trump’s (Stan) rise to power in 1980s America under the influence of the firebrand right-wing attorney Roy Cohn (Strong). Among the scenes that reportedly earned the ire of the former president and his backers are a sequence where he rapes his first wife Ivana and also scenes that show Trump getting liposuction.
Ahead of the film’s screening at the Telluride Film Festival, it was reported that Briarcliff Entertainment would release The Apprentice on Oct 11. And, in addition to yesterday’s Kickstarter, it was announced that Kinematics exited the project over “creative differences,” with fellow producer James Shani’s Rich Spirit buying out the company’s interest.
After a whirlwind couple of months, The Apprentice producers Daniel Bekerman and Amy Baer talked to The Hollywood Reporter about Trump’s threats, the Kickstarter campaign and their hopes for the film.
You have a reported deal for distribution. Why do a Kickstarter campaign?
AMY BAER I’ll start by saying we didn’t [have distribution] for a very long time. Then we weren’t sure we could make the deal with Briarcliff for a variety of reasons. I have to give credit to Dan for this, because we started talking about [distribution] during production, and sort of feeling the energy of the interest in the movie, where the country was going and what was happening with the election. Dan started saying to me that there’s a grassroots approach to this to get people excited about the film. [The Kickstarter] had a marketing and amplifying capacity that then became a financial imperative, certainly for several months. We didn’t know if we would have a distributor, and we wanted to do whatever we could to make sure that the movie was seen.
DANIEL BEKERMAN It is something we were talking about over the winter because we knew this movie might have an unconventional path to audiences. When we premiered the movie in Cannes, we were all feeling really good right after the screening. And then one of our castmembers showed me on his phone that there was a public threat from Donald Trump’s campaign, threatening us, threatening any distributor who dared to try to bring the movie to audiences. We were like, “We need to be ready with a truly independent approach here.” I had never really done a Kickstarter or crowdfunding campaign associated with a movie. In a way, it’s counterintuitive, because the movie’s already so high profile that it’s odd. It’s a very odd situation all around. But with that pressure of the threats that Trump made, we had to have a way to counter that. We couldn’t rely on all the big companies. We had to find a way that we could have a viable path to get this movie to audiences in the right time, and we needed some agency over the process.
What will the money go toward? Marketing? Buying out theaters?
BEKERMAN All the things that go into getting the movie shown as widely and for as long as possible. There’s a lot that goes into that, and a lot of costs that are associated with booking theaters, with the marketing spend that you need to have in order to get those theaters.
BAER And to compete in the marketplace. It’s a very competitive fall. There are a lot of great movies going into the marketplace in the next two months, and we want to do everything we can to ensure that we have the resources to amplify the movie is coming and to hold the theaters once we’re there.
So the funds will be used in conjunction with what Briarcliff is planning for the Oct. 11 release date.
BAER Correct.
Outside of the Kickstarter, it was announced that Kinematics exited the project over “creative differences.” What were those differences?
BAER All we want to say is that they were instrumental in getting the movie made, which is a fact. We understand that they had differences, and we are appreciative of what of the role they played. I don’t think we really want to go any further into that.
Taking a step back, what were you hearing from potential distributors after the Cannes screening?
BEKERMAN There was huge anticipation for it, and the reaction from all of the actual human beings at the companies was almost universally very positive about the movie, but there’s no doubt that the threats from Trump affected the possibilities of what our options were for distribution. It varied, but Amy and I heard consistently that those threats were a real concern. Whether you’re running a big company or a medium-sized company, everyone’s got to look out for their business; I don’t actually begrudge it. But the fact is, most [companies] are not necessarily ready to take on that kind of challenge.
Do you think Hollywood, at large, is swaying away from more political content?
BAER I don’t know that I would say they shy away from political content. What is unique about our situation is it’s a real-life person who likes to control the narrative. We all would sometimes say to ourselves, “Oh, I wonder what’s going to happen.” But I think we are creative people first and are telling a fictional story. That really is the lane that we have tried to stay in and amplify. We really want people to see the movie as a work of art and a work of fiction and make them think. That’s what the best kind of political movie can do. But it just so happens that we’re dealing with a larger-than-life figure that can overwhelm the conversation.
Was it important to you and your fellow filmmakers to have a pre-election release?
BAER The only thing I’ll say about that is Gabe [Sherman, The Apprentice writer] and I started developing this seven years ago. I can tell you, with all honesty and certainty, that there was never some agenda.
BEKERMAN We wish we could plan everything so meticulously. But the truth is getting a movie off the ground is a long process. The only other thing to say about that is when you premiere a movie in Cannes, you generally want to be releasing it publicly in the fall.
I understand that The Apprentice was an incredibly unique situation, but what advice would you give to producers who may face similar hurdles that you have with their films?
BAER I’m married to a film producer, and during this process, there were moments where I was banging my head against a wall, and [he] said, “Well, it’s producing.” Part of the journey of being a producer is you have to see it when nobody else does. And I’ve never in my career been afraid of being the only one in the room who liked something when everybody else didn’t. Obviously we don’t know how the movie’s going to perform yet. We have six weeks until we know that, but certainly I’m extremely proud of the film, and I think we all believe in what the movie is about. It’s a cultural conversation and, to me, that’s why I wanted to make the movie. So I think for young producers, there’s no reason to not take on something challenging or difficult. You just have to be clear on the vision for it.
BEKERMAN What has seemed to work well for me in my business and in my career is that I don’t actually follow what the market is telling me to make. That may mean you move forward with a project that does not have a clear path for distribution. But frankly, if you are doing your job right in that you really know what the value of your project is, you will find that path.