‘The Apprentice’ director warns Cannes audience: ‘The worst times are to come’

The director of the film about a young Donald Trump said there was no “great metaphorical way” to “deal with the rising tide of fascism” in filmmaking.

“The president of Iran is dead. The prime minister of Israel is being indicted in an international tribunal. There’s a war going on in Ukraine. There’s a war going on in Sudan. “There’s all kinds of things going on,” he said on “The Apprentice.” Director Ali Abbasi told the audience at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday. to video From variety.

“I think in times of turmoil, there is a tendency to look inward, bury your head deep in the sand, look within yourself, hope for the best, hope the storm passes,” Abbasi said. said. .

“But the storm never goes away,” continued the Iranian-born coach. “Actually, a storm is coming. The worst times are yet to come.”

Abbasi’s film stars Sebastian Stan as Trump, then a New York real estate developer, and Succession star Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, the future president’s real-life former lawyer and mentor. be informed that it has been received An eight-minute standing ovation at the Cannes premiere.

“When we made this movie, people said, ‘Why do you want to make a movie with Trump?’ You know, if you want to say something about the world, you have to do it in a good way, in a figurative way. please,” Abbasi recalled.

However, he received applause when he said: The nasty way, the mediocre way is the only way to deal with this wave on its own terms and on its own level. ”

“It’s not going to be a pretty situation,” he added. “But I think the problem with the world is that good people have been silent for too long.”