The writer of The Apprentice, Gabriel Sherman, has revealed that one particular scene in his Trump biopic was a ‘non-negotiable’ for himself and director Ali Abbasi.
Sherman exclusively told this to the LADbible group at a red carpet event for the film taking place at the London Film Festival, and the writer also reacted to former President Trump slamming the movie.
The movie, a biopic of Trump’s life focused on his relationship with Roy Cohn and first marriage to Ivana Trump, has had a controversial life cycle, struggling to find distributors.
This came despite rave reviews from festivals it played at, and a burgeoning Oscar campaign for the film’s three lead actors, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, and Maria Bakalova.
Unsurprisingly, considering the negative portrayal of Trump in the film, the Republican presidential candidate has hit out at the movie on his platform ‘Truth Social’.
He said in a post: “A FAKE and CLASSLESS Movie written about me, called, The Apprentice (Do they even have the right to use that name without approval?), will hopefully ‘bomb’.
Trump slammed the movie (Joe Raedle via Getty Images)
“It’s a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!.
“My former wife, Ivana, was a kind and wonderful person, and I had a great relationship with her until the day she died.
“The writer of this pile of garbage, Gabe Sherman, a lowlife and talentless hack, who has long been widely discredited, knew that, but chose to ignore it.”
The scene in question featured Trump sexually assaulting his late first wife, Ivana Trump.
Trump in the film is depicted as a rapist (Studiocanal UK)
Sherman exclusively told the LADbible group of deciding to include the scene: “Well, first of all, it was, you know, documented in her divorce papers under oath.
“So I believed her. I believe the veracity of her story.
“I thought, you know, Trump has been accused of sexual assault by more than a dozen women. It’s part of the discussion of his character.
“I thought the character that I was writing in the movie had to touch on that aspect. It would be a whitewash if I didn’t.”
When asked about whether him and the director ever considered removing the scene, fearing backlash, Sherman stood his ground, saying: “Me And Ali said it was kind of non-negotiable.
Gabriel Sherman was resolute in the face of criticism from Trump (Jeff Spicer via Getty Images)
“We were not willing to cut that scene. It would have been probably easier to release this movie without it, yeah, but that’s not the kind of movie that I wanted my name on.”
Ivana Trump accused Trump of rape in a 1990 divorce deposition, in which she described what happened in a similar way to how it was presented in the film.
This involved her disparaging his appearance, before he pushes her to the floor and rapes her.
In 1993, however, Ivana walked back on this, saying: “On one occasion during 1989, Mr Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently towards me than he had during our marriage.
Ivana and Donald Trump in 1985 (Tom Gates via Getty Images)
“As a woman I felt violated … I referred to this as a rape, but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”
She would later say in 2015 in a statement: “The story is totally without merit. Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of.”
Trump has denied the allegations on multiple occasions.
The LADbible group have reached out to Donald Trump for comment.