As the presidential election season heats up, a controversial film titled “The Apprentice,” centered on Donald Trump, is set to make waves in U.S. theaters. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Briarcliff Entertainment plans to release the film on October 11, following its debut at several fall film festivals. Directed by Ali Abbasi, the biographical drama stars Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn. The film’s release is strategically timed not only to influence public opinion ahead of the election but also to position itself for awards consideration.

The Apprentice has faced significant hurdles on its path to the big screen. Initially seen as a challenging project to market, the film encountered legal threats from Trump’s team, who were prepared to sue over its content. One particularly contentious scene allegedly depicts Trump raping his then-wife Ivana—a claim she initially made during a 1990 divorce deposition but later retracted, saying she had felt “violated” but did not mean “rape” in a literal sense.

Adding to the controversy, billionaire Dan Snyder, a key financier through his production company Kinematics, sought to block the movie’s theatrical release after its Cannes Film Festival premiere. Snyder was reportedly dissatisfied with Trump’s portrayal, which he felt was more negative than anticipated. However, one of The Apprentice’s producers eventually acquired Kinematics’ stake in the project, ensuring its continued path to release.

The impending release of The Apprentice has not gone unnoticed by the Trump campaign. Communications director Steven Cheung issued a scathing statement to the Associated Press, condemning the film’s October premiere as “election interference by Hollywood elites right before November.” Cheung described the movie as “pure malicious defamation” and argued that it “doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store,” concluding that it “belongs in a dumpster fire.” Despite these harsh critiques, films with such notoriety often capture significant online attention, and it remains to be seen how audiences will react.

The timing and content of The Apprentice make it a focal point of both cinematic and political discussions as the election approaches, promising to stir debate and potentially influence voter sentiment.