A “bold, balanced” biopic of Donald Trump is in the works

A big-budget biopic of Donald Trump is being promoted to potential investors at Cannes, with the promise of the project being “kinder” than 2024 release The Apprentice.

Andrea Iervolino, producer of Ferrari and To The Bone, is hoping for a $100million budget to bring to the screen the life of the current President of the United States, according to a report from Deadline. It’s unclear if Trump is involved with the project, or has given his blessing.

In a statement to the outlet, the production company promised “a major new biographical film centred on the life and legacy of Donald J. Trump — real estate mogul, television icon, and 45th and 47th President of the United States”.

Iervolino remarked: “Whether one agrees or disagrees with his politics, there’s no denying Donald Trump’s impact on the modern era. As a producer, I’m interested in exploring the deeper story of the man — the rise, the challenges, the resilience. Our goal is to deliver a film that is bold, balanced, and artistically ambitious”.

Trump is in the first year of his second term in office, having served as president from 2017-2021. Despite his impact on the world, the only Hollywood portrayal of him in recent years has been The Apprentice, starring Sebastian Stan as a young Trump, and Jeremy Strong as attorney Roy Cohn, who became a mentor to him in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The film was well-received and earned Oscar nominations for the two stars, but angered the politician, whose election campaign would send a cease-and-desist letter to the filmmakers. Commenting on Truth Social (via Variety), Trump wrote: “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’”.

“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!’”

He concluded: “So sad that HUMAN SCUM, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want in order to hurt a Political Movement, which is far bigger than any of us. MAGA2024!”

Talking about the controversy, Stan described Trump as a “paranoid, scared little man” during a podcast interview in November. 

On May 5, Donald Trump threatened to impose 100 per cent tariffs on films made outside the US, throwing the industry into uncertainty. The President would later suggest that the James Bond franchise would have “nothing to worry about”, saying that the late Sean Connery was a friend of his.

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