I’ve added one more ‘A Different Man‘ video interview and screencaps. I’ve also posted the full audio of Sebastian and Adam Pearson on BBC6 radio this morning. Enjoy.
I’ve added 16 UHQ/Untagged of “A Different Man” Special Screening in London that took place today.
More ‘A Different Man‘ Press Interviews have been released: Academy Originals,Fantastic Fest, Letterboxd are below to watch. I’ve also added screen captures below as well as video and screen captures from a BTS video for ‘The Apprentice‘.
Vanity Fair – The Donald Trump biopic was one of the hottest tickets at Cannes this year. So why did it take months, and a minor miracle, to sell? As the movie finally hits theaters, its screenwriter, VF special correspondent Gabriel Sherman, has some ideas.
On the night of May 20, I stood in my tuxedo inside the storied Auditorium Louis Lumière at Cannes and listened as more than 2,000 people in black tie gave an eight-minute standing ovation for the film I wrote: The Apprentice. The movie is a Frankenstein origin story about Donald Trump, played by Marvel star Sebastian Stan in heavy prosthetics and a golden toupee. It follows Trump as he rises in Manhattan real estate during the gritty 1970s and gaudy ’80s under the tutelage of right-wing lawyer turned fixer Roy Cohn, played with dead-eyed menace by Succession’s Jeremy Strong. The biggest controversy centered on a scene—spoiler alert—that depicted Trump sexually assaulting his first wife, Ivana. (There were audible gasps in the room when it played.) Other scenes showed Trump getting liposuction, undergoing scalp reduction surgery, and popping amphetamine diet pills—details reported in Harry Hurt III’s 1993 Trump biography, Lost Tycoon. (Trump denied the claims at the time.)
The premiere generated headlines worldwide. But during the after-party with views of oligarch-owned yachts anchored in the harbor, I began getting news alerts on my phone: Trump announced he planned to sue to block the movie’s release. “We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said. He called the movie “malicious defamation,” “election interference by Hollywood elites,” and said it belonged “in a dumpster fire.” I felt a pit in my stomach as I scrolled the headlines. But I also felt strangely validated. Life was imitating art. Trump’s legal threat followed the first rule Cohn elucidates in the movie: Attack, attack, attack.
Two days later, Trump’s lawyers sent the film’s director Ali Abbasi and me cease-and-desist letters. The legal document sounded like an outtake from an unhinged Trump rally speech: “I demand that you immediately cease and desist distribution and marketing in the United States of the foreign-funded and directed hit piece masquerading as a movie.” It warned Hollywood companies against distributing the movie domestically: “Any person in the United States providing services, including marketing services, publicity, legal services, and public distribution of the movie, must be mindful of the restrictions of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.”
I hoped the controversy would translate into a deal. Studios and streamers normally compete fiercely to acquire the buzziest titles at Cannes. Two days after our premiere, Netflix reportedly paid approximately $12 million to acquire Emilia Pérez, the genre-bending transgender drug-cartel musical that won the festival’s Jury Prize.
But the specter of Trump’s lawsuit had a chilling effect on would-be buyers. By the time I flew home a week later, no Hollywood company had made an offer to release the movie in the United States.
Ali Abbasi-directed The Apprentice, starring Sebastian Stan as Trump, Jeremy Strong as his fixer Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, debuted to acclaim at Cannes but became bogged down by legal threats from the former President who took exception to the material. Then producers had to deal with main financier Kinematics — some of whose projects, including The Apprentice, have been backed by Trump supporter Dan Snyder — exiting the movie. All this got in the way of the team securing domestic distribution, which is now set with Tom Ortenberg’s Briarcliff for an October 11 release.
We first announced producer Rich Spirit, overseen by LA-based USC alum Shani, in May during the bustle of Cannes. The company, we can reveal, has now expanded into distribution and is backing The Apprentice‘s release with Briarcliff.
Shani tells us the evolved company will encompass production, financing, and now distribution, with a focus on creative direction and guerrilla marketing for independent films with theatrical ambitions. The company will partner with established distributors to support acquisition costs, P&A, and grassroots marketing aimed at younger audiences.
Shani invested his own capital to start Rich Spirit earlier this year, invested $500k into The Apprentice early on as an EP, and when the opportunity arose to buy out Kinematics and use the film as a pilot for Rich Spirit’s distribution ambitions, Shani raised additional capital from private investors. His model consists of buying three-four films a year, investing 50% of the capital itself and partnering with the investor group on the remaining 50%.
A Different Man is one hell of a film. The story follows Edward (Sebastian Stan), a man with neurofibromatosis who decides to have reconstructive surgery so he no longer feels isolated by his facial differences. Once on the other side of his surgery, Edward realizes that his condition wasn’t what held him back from forming meaningful relationships when he meets Oswald (Adam Pearson, who was born with neurofibromatosis), a man with the same disfigurement who makes connections with ease. Edward soon finds himself plagued by an obsession with Oswald and a play based on his former life.
Writer/director Aaron Schimberg pulls out all of the stops in a script that is bolstered by two remarkable performances from Stan and Pearson, but the film’s shooting schedule — alongside other challenges — ended up making A Different Man quite the hurdle to get made.
The film had a breakneck 22 days to film, which meant some days were literally spent sprinting around New York City in order to get shots that, if they were missed, simply would not have been in the film. I sat down with Schimberg, Pearson and Stan after the film’s Texas premiere at Fantastic Fest to talk about all the challenges of getting A Different Man through the production process.
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I’ve added two videos from various Q+A’s that took place with Sebastian, Adam Pearson, and Aaron Schimberg. I’ve opted not to screen cap these but please enjoy.
I’ve added 7 new UHQ Stills of ‘The Apprentice’ in the gallery. Also, ‘The Apprentice’ kickstarter ends tonight.
* NOTE: If you want to donate to the kickstarter click here: RELEASE THE APPRENTICE
A24 released the podcast with Sebastian and Coleman Domingo this morning. For the link to listen and/or read the podcast transcript click here. I’ve included video of the podcast that A24 has released and also linked to the screen captures in the gallery, enjoy.
