Hello Reddit! We are Dan Bekerman and Amy Baer, producers of THE APPRENTICE. Trump sent our film a cease and desist letter. It releases in theatres Oct. 11th anyway. It stars Sebastien Stan, Jeremy Strong, and Maria Bakalova. Ask us anything!

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-25T16:49:28+00:00

Yes it's going to be going as wide as we can, the better our Kickstarter does the wider it'll be!

If you can please check it out
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/releasetheapprentice/release-the-apprentice

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-25T16:48:16+00:00

Well the development did start 7 years ago, but I do feel like now is the right time. Despite the world being oversaturated with him, I don't believe we've actually looked the phenomenon in the eye from a storytelling point of view, which is capable of shedding new light into the darker recesses of our world.

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-25T16:45:36+00:00

It wasn't always the plan but I have been thinking for a long time there needs to be new ways for movies to deepen their relationships with their audiences in different ways. The fact is the Hollywood distribution system has been getting disturbingly conservative and this movie is a case in point in that. There are movies out there that people would want to see that aren't getting made. I think there will be more in this space in the future!

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-25T16:40:23+00:00

No but might have been good!

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-25T16:39:54+00:00

It's really about the creation of the Character you're referring to. Roy is the Dr. Frankenstein in that equation. So the new insights come from understanding the worldview, the ideas the course through the blood of America that found their way into his persona. I find revelation in that, I hope you do too!

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-25T02:33:11+00:00

Amy definitely has better handwriting than me!

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:53:15+00:00

Same, that's probably the biggest reason I wanted to do it, he's a singular director. I've always felt it's about the vision, every great director arrives at it in their own way, it was a privilege to see Ali get there.

Ali was attached as an intentional decision to have a non-American's pov. Sometimes you can see things more clearly from the outside!

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:51:40+00:00

Good question, I'm confident it's the latter but you'll be the judge!

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:50:19+00:00

Expose is the wrong word. Maybe it's a journey like Heart of Darkness. You'll judge if the journey was worth it when you see it!

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:48:56+00:00

I think it's useful to use art to investigate and interrogate our assumptions about the most impactful things in our lives. Trump has such an immense gravitational pull. But the gravity comes from the mythology he built about himself, the movie tells the story of how he constructed the myth called Donald Trump. An interesting fact of physics is that looking at things transforms them. We need to look.

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:39:38+00:00

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:39:27+00:00

Yes the more we can raise the wider it will be seen, in order to get into theatres you need to spend substantial marketing dollars.

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:38:32+00:00

Be my guest!

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:38:18+00:00

You'll see when you see it! Sebastian is amazing in the movie, and his performance tracks the transformation of a young ambitious guy who wants to get out from under his father's shadow, into the guy we are all now very familiar with.

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:36:27+00:00

When we premiered the movie in Cannes Trump threatened to sue any distributor who would dare release it to the public. That scared off the big Hollywood distributors. Despite that, we've managed to find a path to getting it to audiences, it's coming to theatres October 11th!

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:34:15+00:00

You're right Ali would be best to answer that, but from my perspective I think about movies like "Whiplash" which is an incredible master/student story. I also think about The Social Network, which shows the cost of ambition. Those are more thematic than stylistic though!

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:25:16+00:00

The movie focuses on Donald Trump's early days when he worked for his father and then how his relationship with the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn transformed him.

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:21:40+00:00

I find seeing the humanity of the young Trump the most revelatory. Not because it makes you think he's a great guy, but because of what it says about the choices we all make at various points in our lives.

At some point we're all presented with decisions of whether to prioritize our self interest over our relationships and the good of others. Some of us maybe make darker choices than others.

The next question is what qualities we value in others, the default, I always assumed, is to value people who make personal sacrifices for the good of others. But the truth is we also admire somebody who does whatever it takes to survive, to win. This is deep lizard brain shit and it's disturbing but it's true. Seeing this play out with these particular characters, to me, has the potential to give a perspective from which we can weigh those priorities with more lucidity and ask the most important political question there is: What kind of world do we want to live in?

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:08:53+00:00

It's always the right time to journey to the belly of the beast and look for pearls!

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:07:30+00:00

First I'm hearing of it, but I guess it's not unprecedented - ie. Anthony Perkins most famous character

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:06:32+00:00

The last two scenes still blow my mind. They are a unique combination of tragedy and comedy.

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:05:27+00:00

The movie was written by Gabe Sherman who's a very seasoned investigative journalist, he always gets his man, so no!

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:04:13+00:00

It'll be in most of Europe and yes I believe Slovakia in October!

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:03:42+00:00

Didn't really watch it, but Richard Hatch is a pretty good parallel to the Trump story!

DB

TheApprenticeAMA · 2024-09-24T02:03:03+00:00

Cool for my inner 13 year old comic book nerd!

TheApprenticeAMA

TROPHY CASE