Following its debut at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, “The Apprentice,” featuring Sebastian Stan portraying a young Donald Trump, initially struggled to attract significant interest. However, the film has now secured a distributor, Briarcliff Entertainment, which intends to release it in U.S. and Canadian theaters on October 11, just weeks before the pivotal election on November 5.

Directed by Danish Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi, “The Apprentice” was strategically planned to hit theaters before the election, ensuring it reached audiences while voters were preparing to cast their ballots. Abbasi had been vocal about his commitment to this timeline, emphasizing the film’s relevance to the political climate.

Despite Abbasi’s efforts, major studios and distributors refrained from bidding on the film. Abbasi expressed his frustration on social media platform X in early June, suggesting that influential figures in the U.S. were deliberately stifling the film’s visibility. “For some reason, certain power people in your country don’t want you to see it,” he lamented.

Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, vehemently criticized the film’s release timing. In a statement issued on Friday, Cheung labeled the release as “election interference by Hollywood elites right before November.” He went on to denounce the film as “pure malicious defamation,” arguing that it did not deserve any screen time and should be relegated to a “dumpster fire.”

One of the deterrents to broader interest in “The Apprentice” was the looming threat of legal action. Post its Cannes premiere in May, Cheung had condemned the movie as “pure fiction,” announcing that the Trump team would pursue legal measures to counter what they viewed as false assertions by the filmmakers.

“The Apprentice” delves into Donald Trump’s ascent in the New York real estate sector under the mentorship of defense attorney Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong. A controversial moment in the film depicts Trump raping his wife, Ivana Trump, portrayed by Maria Bakalova. This scene is rooted in Ivana Trump’s 1990 divorce deposition where she accused Trump of rape—a claim he denied, and which she later clarified was not meant literally but conveyed a sense of violation.

Abbasi has maintained that Trump might find value in the film and extended an offer to discuss it with him. “I would offer to go and meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the movie, have a screening and have a chat afterwards, if that’s interesting to anyone at the Trump campaign,” Abbasi proposed in May.

Briarcliff Entertainment, known for releasing notable films such as the 2022 documentary “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” and the Liam Neeson thriller “Memory,” is spearheaded by Tom Ortenberg. Ortenberg’s illustrious career includes roles at Lionsgate, where he facilitated the release of Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” and at Open Road Films, where he supported the Oscar-winning film “Spotlight.”