Inside the Fight to Release ‘The Apprentice’

On Being Coherent • On January 6 • On Climate Change [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( Inside the Fight to Release The Apprentice Good morning. The Donald Trump biopic finally hits theaters this week, but as its screenwriter—VF special correspondent Gabriel Sherman—[explains](, the Frankenstein origin story about the ex-president, played by Sebastian Stan, had a complicated, legal-threat-laden journey to the silver screen. The film follows Trump’s rise in the 1970s and ’80s under Roy Cohn, the future president’s “strange and damaged” mentor, played by Jeremy Strong. Sherman writes about the lengths it took to finance the movie and find an American distributor, and has some ideas as to why: “Life was imitating art. Trump’s legal threat followed the first rule Cohn elucidates in the movie: Attack, attack, attack.” Elsewhere, Eric Lutz has a very precise [take]( on the vice-presidential debate, you know, the one where JD Vance [suggested]( climate change was mostly just “weird science” and [claimed]( that Trump “peacefully gave over power on January the 20th, as we have done for over 250 years in this country.” Speaking of, January 6, 2025 will mark four years since Trump incited a mob of supporters to storm the US Capitol and try to stop the certification of the 2020 election. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Pablo Manríquez this past week that one of the main [reasons]( Democrats need to regain control of the House “is so that we have the gavel in our hands on January 3 and can certify the results of the presidential election on January 6.” Plus, Bess Levin has [the latest]( on Trump confusing Iran with North Korea and then baselessly claiming North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un—“for whom he normally has disturbingly kind words”—was trying to kill him. Thanks for reading. —Meena Ganesan, senior editor [Image may contain: Accessories, Formal Wear, Tie, Adult, Person, Furniture, Indoors, Clothing, and Coat]( [Inside the Fight to Release The Apprentice]( By [Gabriel Sherman]( [The Donald Trump biopic was one of the hottest tickets at Cannes this year. So why did it take months, and a minor miracle, to sell? As the movie finally hits theaters, its screenwriter, VF special correspondent Gabriel Sherman, has some ideas.]( [Read more button](   [JD Vance Won the Debate—If You Ignore the Facts]( By [Eric Lutz]( [The Ohio senator displayed the eloquence of a seasoned lawyer and the zeal of an annoying debate kid, while Tim Walz seemed less comfortable in the limelight. Then again, will either of their performances actually move the needle?]( [Read more button](   [Donald Trump Claims Kim Jong Un Is “Trying to Kill Me,” Rants About “Water-Free Bathrooms” During Incoherent-Even-for-Him Remarks]( By [Bess Levin]( [Reminder: This man wants to be leader of the free world.]( [Read more button](   [Hakeem Jeffries on Winning the House and Defending Democracy Against Another January 6]( By [Pablo Manríquez]( [The difference between a smooth presidential transition and a calamitous repeat of 2021 might come down to who holds the gavel. And while Mike Johnson himself might seem tame, his commitment to overturning a potential Trump loss could be quite the opposite.]( [Read more button](   [Republicans Don’t Believe in Climate Change—and Democrats Should Take It More Seriously]( By [Eric Lutz]( [The issue, which JD Vance and Tim Walz addressed briefly during their debate, has been largely absent from the 2024 discourse, even as extreme weather events continue to ravage the country.]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe]( Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2024 Condé Nast