The Japan Times - 'Apprentice' star Jeremy Strong says 'truth under assault'

Strong told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival that lawyer Roy Cohn, who he played in the controversial biopic, was the inventor of "fake news".

President Trump's lawyers threatened to file a lawsuit against the film, which was released during last year's presidential campaign.

"Roy Cohn I see essentially as the progenitor of fake news and alternative facts, and we're living in the aftermath of what I think he created," said Strong, who is on the jury at Cannes.

The actor, best known for his role in the series "Succession", said we are living at a "time where truth is under assault, where truth is becoming increasingly in danger".

"Here specifically in this temple of film, the role of film is increasingly critical, because it can combat those forces in the entropy of truth, and it can communicate truths, individual truths, human truths, societal truths, and affirm and celebrate our shared humanity," he said.

"The Apprentice", directed by Ali Abbasi, portrays a younger Trump as a nervous, naive outsider trying to make his way in cutthroat Manhattan.

But in one shocking scene, it also shows him raping his first wife, Ivana, after she belittles him for growing overweight and bald.

In real life, Ivana accused Trump of raping her during divorce proceedings, but later withdrew the allegation. She died in 2022.

The movie also shows Trump suffering erectile dysfunction, and undergoing liposuction and surgery for hair loss.

The film was eventually released in October last year before the presidential election that he won.

In his first 100 days, his administration has slashed federal funding for disinformation research.

Social media platforms have scaled back content moderation, with Meta suspending third-party fact-checking in the United States.

M.Ito--JT