‘The Apprentice’ is a new film that examines Donald Trump’s rise to power in 1980s America and how his relationship with the lawyer Roy Cohn changed him from a businessperson to the media persona we know today. The film comes from Irish production company Tailored Films, who previously worked on ‘The Lodgers’, ‘The Winter Lake’, and ‘Let the Wrong One In’. We spoke with producers Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde to learn more about how an Irish company became involved with a big international production.
How did an Irish production company get involved with The Apprentice?
Ruth: It happened very quickly. I was at a networking event that Screen Ireland was involved with organising at Cannes 2023 called Co-Create. I met with the Canadian producer, Daniel Beckerman. His company has produced films like The Witch and many great projects we admire. He mentioned that he was producing a film about the origin story of Donald Trump, which immediately piqued my interest. He mentioned that Ali Abbasi would direct it; we are huge fans of his work on films like Border and Holy Spider. Immediately, I knew it was going to be a Donald Trump story with a difference. We were really excited to find out if there was a way to get involved, and Daniel mentioned that they had a lot of the finances in place but that there was still a small piece missing. I met Julianne after the meeting, and we chased the job as much as we could because we knew that anything involving Ali would be special and unique. We applied to Screen Ireland for funding last summer, and we got it. It shot at the end of last year into the start of this year, and it’s been a fast-paced rollercoaster since then.
It wrapped close to Cannes 2024. Were you under pressure to complete post-production on time for the film to be screened at Cannes?
Julianne: It was all hands-on deck; it was a very compressed post-production time frame compared to what you’d normally have. We figured out a timetable that would make it possible. It involved doing multiple things simultaneously, as opposed to how post is usually done in a linear fashion. Ruth managed the sound team in post-production, and I managed a lot of the VFX. We had to go from working with two different vendors to working with six simultaneously to facilitate such a short time frame.
Ruth: Someone used the analogy that it was like building the plane as we fly, and that’s what the post-production was like. It wasn’t originally planned to go to Cannes, but as the post-production started, some financiers felt it might be a good opportunity to try and apply for it. Ali’s previous two films had been at Cannes, and we knew they were big supporters of his work. We got the news that it was accepted on the 11th of April, and we hadn’t picture locked at that point. It was crazy, to put it mildly, but we always knew that when we were screening it at Cannes, it wasn’t the final finished product. We would go back in to edit, make some revisions, and finish VFX.
Julianne: When you do something rushed, we want to have the ability to perfect it afterwards. Part of the motivation behind getting it ready for Cannes was knowing we could take a breather afterwards and make it really good.
Ruth: Ali is also a very focused director in terms of knowing what he wants to change. He was clear about going back into the edit that there were specific things he wanted to look at.
What was it like stepping onto the red carpet at Cannes?
Ruth: It was surreal. We flew to Cannes with the DCP the day before the screening. We barely had time to get dresses. It didn’t feel like we had any hype building up to it, and then suddenly, we were on the red carpet. I didn’t know beforehand that there were so many video cameras or that it was being broadcast into the gigantic cinema. If I had known, it would have made me more nervous. We knew there would be hundreds of photographers, but the scale was bigger than I could have imagined; it was broadcast live on French TV, which was a surprise.
Julianne: We started going to the Cannes Film Festival in 2012, and there are two very separate sides. One is the industry side; there’s an expo where people buy and sell films. On the other side is the red carpet with famous people and the paparazzi. We were on the business side for so long, so walking onto the other side was quite exciting. It was lovely to be there.
Ruth: We didn’t realise you get to pick the music you walk up the red carpet to, so deciding what songs to play was very cool. We picked ones that were in keeping with the genre and the time frame of the film, like I’m Your Boogie Man by KC and the Sunshine Band and Obsession by Animotion.
Were the cast attached when you joined the project?
Ruth: The cast was pretty locked in. There were one or two small changes, but Sebastian Stan had been attached to this project since the beginning. All the cast are incredible in the film. We can’t wait for people to see the performances. When I found out Jeremy Strong was involved, l was so excited. I am a massive Succession fan. He is amazing in this film and really embodies the role. Sebastian’s performance is just incredibly nuanced as well. The more often I watch the film, the more I see how fantastic Sebastian is in the role. He brings his own dynamic to the Trump character. It’s far from a caricature portrayal.
Julianne: We were able to cast a couple of Irish actors. Eoin Duffy, who we worked with in Let the Wrong One In, plays Tony Schwartz, and we also had Valerie O’Connor. It was great to have the opportunity to have Irish talent on screen in such a high-profile film.
Did Sebastian prepare for the role by watching footage of Trump?
Ruth: I know from hearing him talk about how he got into the role that he watched tons and tons of interviews, podcasts, and videos of Trump. Wherever he was going, he had headphones in and listened to Trump, so it was constant until it washed over him in a completely immersive way.
I believe all the post-production was done here in Ireland; is that correct?
Julianne: It was all done here. It is a Canadian, Irish and Danish co-production. The offline edit was done in Denmark, the shoot in Canada, and all the sound and picture finishing were done here in Ireland.
Ruth: We had David Holmes working as a composer for much of it. There’s a huge amount of music, and we worked with Irish music supervisors, Planet of Sound. The director, Ali, came over here for quite a long period of post. It was exciting to have such a big team working on this massively international film that everyone will be talking about.
Do you work in different areas as co-producers, or is it all collaborative?
Julianne: We have skill sets that overlap, and then we also have things that we’re each better at, so we complement each other in that way. I would have done VFX production on this project, and that’s an area Ruth doesn’t step much into, whereas we’d both be involved in the financing side. Ruth was managing music on the project, and that was the side that I didn’t really get involved in.
Ruth: When we went to film school in Dun Laoghaire, IADT, Julianne specialised in cinematography, and I specialised in sound design. Sometimes, we say we’re the eye and ear because I would be very focused on sound and music, and Julianne would be very focused on visuals. We both get involved in financing and casting, and that side of things is very collaborative.
A lot of producers come from marketing backgrounds. Does having a film background give you a different perspective?
Julianne: It was invaluable. It really helps to connect with the crew and the directing team and understand that side of things, and it gains respect. We’d often get feedback from directors or crew members who appreciate that we get what they are trying to do.
Ruth: It helps when you are budgeting. When people tell you what they need, you can ask if there are ways to do things more efficiently or cost-effectively. We both love being on set. We are filmmakers, we didn’t set out to be producers. We set up the business when we graduated because we started getting the opportunity to make some promotional films. We did corporate videos for a long time before stepping back into TV, film, and entertainment. Production has been the side of things that we’ve learned as we go. We both love producing, but it’s great to be able to use our filmmaking skills in every project as well.
What do you want audiences to take away from The Apprentice?
Julianne: It’s very interesting to see where he came from and how his journey created the media persona we see today. I think it will surprise some people in terms of their perception of Trump. It’s only been seen at Cannes, and we’re excited to see it shown to a wider audience. It is a conversation starter. It is interesting to see how the relationship with Cohn was so transformative for him. Tonally, it will surprise people. There’s humour, there’s darkness, and it’s a fast-paced ride.
Words – Cara O’Doherty