Why New Trump Biopic Could Be Doomed to Fail
Producer wants to capture president's full life beyond 'The Apprentice'
The 2024 film “The Apprentice” focused on Donald Trump’s rise to power in the ’80s.
The project earned oodles of unpaid media attention, two Oscar nominations and the scorn of Team Trump.
All that publicity led to an embarrassing $4 million stateside haul and a global take of just $17 million. That’s a box office dud. Period.
Now, a film producer wants to revisit Trump’s life.
‘Ferrari’ Producer Andrea Iervolino wants to capture the fuller scope of Trump’s life in a project carrying a $100 million price tag, according to Deadline. Expect a less scathing look at the two-term president, a far cry from the hit piece delivered last year by director Ali Abbasi.
The Andrea Iervolino Company’s description of the project is “a major new biographical film centered on the life and legacy of Donald J. Trump — real estate mogul, television icon, and 45th and 47th President of the United States.” It’s not clear if Iervolino has reached out to Trump’s team.
Last year’s film proved the public has little hunger for a Trumpian biopic. Now, with President Trump in the headlines 24/7, that appetite may be even weaker.
The timing couldn’t be worse for several reasons.
Trump’s legacy is playing out in real time, so any movie attempting to capture it could be a fool’s errand. Any slightly positive look at Trump will get skewered by the entertainment press. MAGA devotees will be skeptical of any Hollywood-style portrait of their favorite president.
The pool of potential customers seems small from the jump.
That massive budget will require a sizable box office haul to make a profit. No matter how good or well intentioned the film may be, that hurdle appears insurmountable. Even Dinesh D’Souza’s pro-MAGA “Vindicating Trump” earned only a modest box office haul last year – $1.3 million stateside.
The best way to capture President Trump on screen, and that’s an essential mission at some point, is to wait a few years. Let the current emotions engulfing his presidency cool. There’s a reason we saw so many stellar Vietnam War movies roughly a decade after the conflict ended.
- “Platoon”
- “Full Metal Jacket”
- “Hamburger Hill”
- “Good Morning, Vietnam!”
Storytellers needed time to process the conflict and remove some (not all) of their personal feelings from the creative process. The same approach will help make the best Trump biopic possible.
Attempting it now seems like a terrible choice.