Lawyers for Donald Trump have fired off cease-and-desist letters to shut down a caustic biopic on the former president.
The letters warn filmmakers against pursuing a distribution deal in an effort to block its U.S. sale and release, Variety reported.
"The Apprentice," which explores Trump's early years as a real estate developer and his relationship with Roy Cohn, aide to notorious "Commie-hunter" Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival early this week.
In a statement addressing the cease-and-desist letters, the film's producers insisted that the film is a "fair and balanced portrait of the former president. We want everyone to see it and then decide."
The independently produced movie stars Sebastian Stan as Trump and "Succession's" Jeremy Strong as Cohn.
It paints a damning portrait of the former president as an ethically compromised philanderer who stiffed contractors and made deals with the mob to complete his buildings.
The film also controversially depicts Trump raping his first wife, Ivana, and shows him abusing amphetamines to lose weight, as well as undergoing liposuction and plastic surgery. The actual Ivana Trump accused Donald Trump of raping her at their home in a 1989 divorce deposition. She later denied the claim, saying in 2015 it was "totally without merit."
Trump's camp responded with a sharp note, threatening legal action.
Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, called the film "pure malicious defamation" adding that it "should not see the light of day ... it belongs in a dumpster fire."
The movie, directed by Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, features a script by Gabriel Sherman, a journalist who covered the Trump administration.
During a Cannes press conference for the film, Abbasi noted Trump's legal threats.
"Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people; they don't talk about his success rate, though, you know?" he said.
Abbasi even offered to screen the movie for Trump, noting: "I don't necessarily think that this is a movie he would dislike."
