Succession star Jeremy Strong has been snapped on the set of his new project. Strong plays the notorious closeted attorney Roy Cohn, a former mentor to a young Donald Trump. The movie is entitled The Apprentice.
Sebastian Stan (Hulu’s Pam and Tommy) plays the part of a young Donald Trump. Oscar-nominee Maria Bakalova (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) plays Ivana Trump. Cannes prize-winning Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider) is helming the project.
The movie explores the way Trump built his real estate business in New York in the ’70s and ’80s. It will also delve into his relationship with Cohn.
Your dose of fabulosi-TEA
Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.
According to the Daily Mail, Emmy-winner Strong and Stan filmed a scene on Wednesday in Toronto, Canada.
Jeremy Strong pictured as Donald Trump's notorious mentor and attorney Roy Cohn as he films The Apprentice with Sebastian Stan https://t.co/dOXVs8p933
— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) December 21, 2023
Online, many were blown away by Strong’s likeness to Cohn.
Jeremy’s eyes are spot on. https://t.co/fhHaqoSSNy pic.twitter.com/xNa155TmNt
— Jeremy Strong Admirer (@jstrongadmirer) December 22, 2023
Who was Roy Cohn?
Born in 1927, Cohn was an attorney and prosecutor who came to prominence as chief counsel for Senator Joseph McCarthy in the mid-1950s. He aided McCarthy in his efforts to root out communists from positions of power and public life.
Cohn went on to become a infamous “fixer” for a number of high-profile clients in the ’70s and ’80s, including Mafia figures and prominent business people. This included mentoring a young Donald Trump.
In the early 1970s, the government sued the Trump corporation for discriminating against Black Americans seeking apartments. Cohn countersued for $100 million, saying the claims were baseless. The suit failed and Trump settled the matter out of court in 1975.
Cohn is credited with introducing Donald Trump to Rupert Murdoch, a relationship that helped pave the way years later for Trump’s rise to political power. He also aided Roger Stone in his bid to get Ronald Reagan elected President in 1980.
Cohn also faced several charges of professional misconduct, including perjury and witness tampering. He was disbarred in 1986.
Cohn was a closeted gay man. He died from AIDS-related illness in 1986, although he publicly denied having the disease and instead told people he was battling liver cancer.
Politico writer Michael Kruse wrote of Cohn: “He was preening and combative, look-at-me lavish and loud. It was an act. The truth was he hated what he was—a lawyer who hated lawyers, a Jewish person who hated Jewish people, and a gay person, fiercely closeted if haphazardly hidden, who hated gay people, calling them ‘f*gs’.”
Tellingly, a panel on the AIDS memorial quilt dedicated to him simply says: ”Roy Cohn. Bully. Coward. Victim.”
abfab
Al Pacino. The tops when it came to doing this rat bastard. I should wait till I see it before ranking them but Angels in America……….. my goodness that was good. The entire cast, really. But Pacino!
bachy
Oh Christ all we need are more films featuring gay villains. Why not yet another Jeffrey Dahmer biopic? Let’s be sure that the public imagination is glutted with creepy, monstrous depictions of gays slaughtering innocent people – vile, self-serving, subhuman creatures totally undeserving of equal rights.
Yeah, sounds like a terrific, creative contribution to the current zeitgeist. And look! We can even blame the gays (Cohn) for the rise of the Trump Reich!
quantum
James Somerton?
Mary Jane
Why are so afraid to see our history told hopefully truthfully? We can go back to J. Edgar Hoover, the Germans who were put in charge of many of the Jewish lives ordered to kill them, and Versace’s killer.
If the stories are going to be told–do them with all its dirty details.
Fahd
Yes, Al Pacino’s depiction of Cohn in Angels in America will not easily be outdone. And from what I have read Cohn did have some influence over the tangerine Palpatine in the day, but “mentor” sounds like a leap designed to feed off of the ongoing infamy (daily headlines) associated with Eric’s father.
Great casting, etc. but I’m not in the mood to rehash Cohn again, as others have noted. Awful man,who as Cindy Adams reported, never paid his bills. — oh, now the mentoring angle is making more sense.
Anyway, let’s go for positive depictions and Cohn is not one.
Chrisk
It most definitely won’t be outdone. I love the idea of them exploring the relationship and mentoring of Trump. Maga can thank a gay man for producing the Trump we all know today.
inbama
It’s about time some Trump flicks came out before he’s back in the White House and having film makers arrested.
Ronbo
Both Angels were fantastic! They ruined theatre for me – I haven’t seen anything on Broadway that actually made me think so much – except Cats! Which was so awful that most everyone left after intermission – at the end, I agreed and wished I had left.
But let’s not forget that team Biden is pushing for another loss – loss of youth vote, loss of Hispanic vote, Loss of Arab American votes and ultimately loss to Republicans. RGB also stayed too long also, handing the Supreme Court to Republicans.
DNC cheating (change of primary order and now, eliminating democratic primaries) will trigger this loss; yet, Biden and Hillary will blame it on Russians and progressives.
AIPAC has offered $20,000,000 to lure a DNC candidate who is willing to primary progressive politicians out of the election; Imagine the avalanche of caterwauling if Russia did that! Odd that a foreign organization is getting away with actively manipulating our Democratic politics.
Remember when progressives warned that ultra-conservative Hillary (pro-DOMA, Pro DADT, Pro outsourcing jobs), would lose to tRump? The DNC is doing the same cheating now and hoping for different results. God (if you exist) help us! The pope is trying; why can’t the DNC?
Chrisk
Ronbo
If Biden is losing the youth vote then they’re complete Morons. More people are working today then in any other point in History. Rescued the Economy and Changed the course of the Pandemic. Plus, rebuilding our Infrastructure. I could go on.
Not sure who would’ve been better at the time then Hillary to beat Trump. She won the popular vote by 3 million. Plus the giant amount of Republican cheating.
still_onthemark
Polling still shows Biden way ahead of Trump in the youth vote — IF they do vote. They’re expressing disappointment with Biden but they still dislike Trump.
Ronbo
Chrisk and Still, Stop binary thinking, please. There are many candidates in the race than just the tRump and Biden. Too bad that, like Russia, the DNC is NOT allowing many states to vote in the Democratic primaries. Biden is cooked and the DNC would rather give it to the Republicans than progressive Democrats. Why can’t I vote for the Democratic candidate that I want?
Calling youth “Morons” isn’t going to make them change their minds. Do you think that nuclear devastation is a “red line” for Israel? Who said that there are “no red lines” in support of Israel far-right government? Biden. Trump leads President Biden 49% to 43% among voters 18 to 29. Maybe they have a red line because they want a future. Are you a moron for nuclear wars?
If either of you own a home, there are bullies who’d like to bulldoze your home, steal your land and bomb you. That is THIS far-right government in Israel. Just like in America, there are good people there who want peace. Please support them, not their far-right politicians.
still_onthemark
More gaslighting from Ronbo. Tell Biden supporters that it’s not a “binary” choice (like it or not, the U.S. political system is always a binary choice) in hopes that some of us will vote for RFK Jr. or some other deranged crank. But further down in the paragraph, Ronbo implies that it IS a binary choice and that young people are for Trump. Why? Because they support the Palestinians… ??? … Does Ronbo think Trump will be more anti-Israel than Biden is? Really?
Ronbo, if you’re so concerned about Gaza why don’t you go there and help out, I’m sure Hamas would love to have a proud American GAY guy help them out. Before they throw you off a roof.
Man About Town
Al Pacino was riveting, especially the memorable scene where he’s getting dressed following a physical exam and casually threatening to blackmail the doctor.
still_onthemark
Jeremy Strong is great casting for Roy Cohn if it MUST be done! Yeah it does get a little tiresome to see certain gay villains over & over. My pet peeve is the endless fascination with Leopold & Loeb — enough already!
BStewart27
Let’s not lose sight of Stephen Miller, frightening as he looks– almost a carbon copy of Roy Cohn. Equally dangerous and full of hate.
dbmcvey
This is great casting! Strong is great at playing these morally troubled characters.