An attorney representing Donald Trump issued a cease-and-desist letter on Friday to the filmmakers behind a new biopic titled The Apprentice, alleging defamation and illegal election interference.
As per a letter obtained by the Washington Post and the Hill, Trump’s legal team is demanding the filmmakers halt “all marketing, distribution, and publication” of the film. The three-page letter also criticized those involved in the film for their previous remarks about Trump and warned of potential further legal actions.
“The Movie presents itself as a factual biography of Mr. Trump, yet nothing could be further from the truth,” wrote Trump attorney David A. Warrington in the letter. “It is a concoction of lies that repeatedly defames President Trump and constitutes direct foreign interference in America’s elections.”
The biopic, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, stars Sebastian Stan as Trump and depicts his rise to fame as a New York real estate mogul in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The film offers a dark portrayal of Trump, featuring graphic scenes of him undergoing plastic surgery and sexually assaulting his former wife Ivana Trump, based on her testimony from a 1990 divorce deposition.
In a statement provided to Variety, which first reported the news, the film’s producers described the film as “a fair and balanced portrait of the former president.”
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign had earlier threatened legal action against the filmmakers, labeling the movie as “pure malicious defamation” that “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.”
