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Chris Gore and Alan Ng review "The Apprentice,” now playing in theaters.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:03
Allan you and I have both seen The
0:05
Apprentice this is a movie about the
0:08
early days of
0:10
trump starting in the
0:13
70s as a rising Real Estate Mogul kind
0:17
of floundering being sued by the US
0:20
government he uh he forms an odd
0:25
relationship I almost I'm not sure if
0:28
you could even call it a friendship
0:31
it was sort of an apprenticeship with an
0:34
attorney named Roy con who is was very
0:39
powerful who basically took Donald Trump
0:43
under his wing and taught him I I'll say
0:47
everything he
0:48
knows um Trump is played by Sebastian
0:53
Stan um and uh it's Jeremy Strong plays
0:57
Roy con Allan tell us more about the
1:00
story of the film before we get into it
1:03
yeah so this T this starts in the 70s
1:05
early in Trump's career he's kind of
1:07
living under the shadow of his father
1:09
Fred another Real Estate Mogul uh and um
1:13
he has an opportunity Trump uh to kind
1:16
of become The Apprentice uh gain
1:18
mentorship from Roy con uh Roy doesn't
1:22
you know Roy kind of thinks he's a
1:24
schlub um but decides that he's going to
1:26
take him under his wing anyways and and
1:28
he teaches them he teach teaches him the
1:31
uh the win at all cost method of doing
1:34
business in fact um and never apologize
1:38
yeah in fact here never apologize let me
1:41
get the three rules here if I can find a
1:44
Rass and Ro becomes uh oh no go ahead no
1:48
no go ahead uh you wrote the review on
1:51
film threat right but there was he had
1:53
three rules uh that he followed uh it
1:56
was also it was it was basically when it
1:59
all cost never admit error never admit
2:01
faults and then whatever you said um
2:05
this is this is a very interesting movie
2:06
because uh he takes he basically this is
2:10
a true character Arc for Donald Trump
2:12
he's this kind of uh Meek inexperienced
2:15
uh real estate guy uh who comes under
2:18
the tutelage of Roy con and over the
2:21
course of the film he turns into the
2:23
person you know today at least 80s Trump
2:26
uh it ends with basically the the
2:29
beginning of writing the book The Art of
2:30
the deal um along the way uh so
2:34
basically he he uses U manipulation he
2:37
uses blackmail he uses uh just a
2:40
forceful tone to be able to get what he
2:42
wants uh the biggest thing is to get a
2:44
tax abatement from the city of New York
2:46
to uh rebuild one of the famous hotels
2:49
there uh no one thinks he's going to do
2:51
it because New York is going through a
2:53
recession there's no money uh the New
2:56
York City needs the tax money to pay you
2:59
know all all for all of its services and
3:01
Trump is going in demanding that he gets
3:03
tax abatements uh and uh Roy con tells
3:07
him how to get it and then uses kind of
3:09
backdoor politics to do that along the
3:11
way he meets um Ivana Trump played by
3:14
Maria bakalova and the two of them uh
3:16
become this Powerhouse this media
3:19
Powerhouse uh where he basically Wills
3:21
these buildings into being and then uh
3:24
Ivana is the one who's going to do the
3:26
all the interior design of it and and
3:29
Trump falls into to the uh to the greed
3:31
to the I wouldn't say necessarily the
3:33
Hedonism of uh of being rich uh but um
3:38
he you know you definitely see the birth
3:41
of the Donald Trump we know today and uh
3:44
and so there there's H the interesting
3:47
thing about the storytelling here is
3:49
that you see the rise of trump uh
3:52
countered by the downfall of Roy con uh
3:55
Roy although he never admitted it was a
3:58
homosexual and uh contracted AIDS and
4:01
the movie kind of ends with his downfall
4:03
being to sparred um being sued and then
4:07
to have uh AIDS kind of ravage him uh
4:10
you know you you see the basically the
4:13
crossing of the two these two characters
4:15
which I found interesting um I will say
4:17
this uh this is not I had preconceived
4:20
notions coming into this movie uh you
4:23
know first of all I thought this movie
4:25
was going to be a hit piece it's not a
4:26
hitpiece uh it is a true character study
4:29
of of Donald Trump at the same time it's
4:31
not pro Trump either and I say that all
4:33
to all to say that this movie will not
4:35
sway the election in any way and when we
4:38
went to the screening uh the director
4:40
was there he talked about that he was
4:42
much more interested in telling a story
4:45
of a guy on the rise and a guy on the
4:47
decline uh rather than telling a true
4:49
Donald Trump movie um I will say this I
4:52
think uh I think the left is going to
4:54
hate the movie because it humanizes
4:56
Trump and I think the right is going to
4:58
hate the movie for one scene in the
5:00
movie and uh and you probably heard
5:03
about what that scene is but uh you know
5:06
so I actually like this movie I actually
5:08
found it interesting and fascinating um
5:11
the the person that Trump ultimately
5:12
becomes it's like yeah I can kind of see
5:14
that it may come from a a biased
5:16
viewpoint but it's like well you know
5:18
that's kind of how I see the guy anyways
5:21
um so I you know it's interesting uh I
5:25
would recommend it for exactly what this
5:26
movie is not it's not a hit piece and
5:28
it's an inter Tale on uh the current uh
5:32
nominee for president in the United
5:34
States yeah it's I really love this film
5:38
I was shocked how much I loved it it's
5:41
the weird way to I I I was telling
5:43
someone about it and it's like Trump man
5:45
begins It's Like An Origin story of
5:49
trump because when you meet him he's a
5:51
schlub he's very he doesn't drink he
5:55
doesn't drink at all he's very straight
5:58
he's straight edge as well now well well
6:00
they you do and I don't know if anyone
6:02
knows this Trump cheated on his wife so
6:07
they I know it's shocking they show that
6:10
but he wasn't really into like Roy con
6:13
has these weird sex parties and Trump is
6:16
like I don't want any part of this I
6:18
want a away he doesn't D he's very kind
6:20
of a straight edged normal dude yeah and
6:24
you see that with his with his brother
6:25
Freddy who was an alcoholic and a drug
6:28
addict yeah the brother Freddy they get
6:31
into that who was an alcoholic drug
6:33
addict loser and by contrast Trump
6:37
wanted are like that's the lesson I'm
6:39
learning about my brother I don't want
6:41
to I don't want any part of being that
6:44
but you see him before he is the Trump
6:46
we know now how he became that so in a
6:50
way it's like a weird origin movie if
6:52
this was a Marvel franchise this would
6:55
be the origin of trump but you're right
6:58
the left will hate this movie because it
7:02
makes him look like a human being he's
7:05
not even though he does horrible things
7:07
in the movie and he I I do love when
7:12
he's courting Ivana and I like how he
7:14
goes to Great length and he's kind of
7:17
like he slips on the ice and he's like
7:19
he's not
7:20
perfect and and that makes him likable
7:23
and I gotta give credit Sebastian Stan
7:26
As Trump is amazing yeah
7:30
I'll tell you why it's not uh when
7:32
people tend to do Trump it's a
7:34
caricature it's not a caricature he
7:38
moves his mouth like Trump he moves his
7:42
mouth like Trump but he does it in a
7:46
way that it's not over the toop and then
7:50
Jeremy Strong as Roy con is
7:54
terrifying he's so
7:56
scary and you see how Trump like
8:00
borrowed aspects of Roy K's personality
8:03
personality to develop his own
8:07
personality right you see that and wow I
8:12
I was just in in a you know if things
8:16
were Fair they would both be nominated
8:20
for best actor I'm being serious what do
8:24
you think about
8:26
that yeah it's interesting I I mean you
8:30
can't escape the politics of this movie
8:32
right I know that's the thing that's
8:34
what's sad is this is a great film but I
8:38
think people's expectations are well
8:41
this is gonna tear Trump apart it
8:43
doesn't it's it's I'll say this it's
8:46
honest when it comes to Trump it's
8:48
honest I don't think except for that one
8:51
scene you're talking
8:53
about except the one scene well I'm
8:57
going to disagree with you there is a
8:59
bias in this movie the bias is very
9:02
clear but it's not like we haven't seen
9:04
movies and TVs have a liberal bias over
9:07
the last several decades since the since
9:10
the 70s and you know so this is not a
9:13
hey I'm I'm gonna go out in human eyes
9:16
I'm gonna go out and make Trump a a
9:19
sympathetic character no he doesn't come
9:21
off as sympathetic at the end but at the
9:23
same time the the person they portray
9:25
Trump at the end uh you know we we've
9:28
known about this about this about this
9:30
guy for a long time the guy is very much
9:32
into himself uh the guy likes to see
9:35
himself as uh as the Savior uh complex
9:38
yes he's cheated um he's had multiple
9:41
wives um you know those are you know
9:45
those are things you can't deny about
9:46
Trump uh all these negative things we've
9:49
been told um but you know to say that
9:52
you know it's fair I I wouldn't say so
9:55
but at the same time I found it a good
9:58
movie I found it very intriguing and I
10:01
found it very fascinating and so that's
10:03
why I'm recommending it well I recommend
10:05
it I liked it a lot more than you I
10:07
think a lot of it is Sebastian Stan is
10:12
so good it's it's it's the best
10:16
portrayal of trump because everyone does
10:20
a caricature yeah he he gets the things
10:24
that he he's definitely Trump but he
10:27
he's early Trump and he really becomes
10:30
from that's why I describe it as an
10:32
origin story well you hit the nail on
10:34
the head there this is not a caricature
10:36
this is not a comedy uh even though it
10:38
is um but it's a very subtle caricature
10:42
um you know he's not trying to do
10:44
impressions of trump he's just trying to
10:46
get his mannerisms down you know and
10:48
it's very lowkey in the beginning
10:50
because you know he he knows he has to
10:53
have this character grow over the course
10:55
of the film and uh it it's there's a lot
10:58
of smart acting choices that Stan makes
11:00
in this movie and uh and you know that's
11:04
another reason why I'm recommending this
11:05
movie as
11:07
well all right so it's a recommend from
11:10
both Allan and I but know what you're
11:12
getting going in and it's unfortunate
11:15
that we live in such a polit political
11:19
environment who would who would have
11:21
thought with the election but um I
11:25
recommend it whether you love Trump or
11:27
hate him uh it's a solid film and one
11:30
last thing I'll recommend I love the
11:33
style it's set in the 70s and 80s as you
11:36
said kind of going up to um you know the
11:40
art of the deal right just before the
11:42
book is being uh written yeah but but
11:45
the way it shot it feels like the 70s
11:48
and 80s it has like a a sort of video
11:51
feel to it and the cinematography is
11:54
chef's kiss so good well you notice like
11:57
in the 70s uh it's film
11:59
you know shot on this really grainy film
12:01
and then it evolves into the the feel of
12:04
video of the
12:05
80s it's like our memory of that era or
12:08
how that era we saw that era that's how
12:11
the movie looks so I it's uh really um
12:15
one of my favorite films this year I
12:17
don't know if it'll be a top 10 but one
12:19
of my favorite movies of the
12:27
Year w
12:30
SM SM
12:32
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