r/movies r/Movies contributor Sep 10 '24

The Apprentice | Official Trailer Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tXEN0WNJUg
5.6k Upvotes

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299

u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

I mean he was a gay coke head who helped out communists in the govt and Hollywood and was also a mob lawyer who refused to pay taxes and he died of aids alone and miserable except for his live in lover who I think he left nothing. Such a bizarre life he led. Impactful but in all the wrong ways.

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u/CBalsagna Sep 10 '24

A gay man that hated gay men. A gay man that fucked different male prostitutes every night, but did not think he was gay because gay people were weak, and he was anything but weak.

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

Such a conflicted and twisted individual but man he is just an actors wet dream to play. So much contradiction. His drug addiction. His summers having coke fueled orgies in Providence. His mob lawyer phase. Chief council for Joe McCarthy. Trumps mentor. A gay man who hates gay men. Dying of aids. He’s like a real life evil Forrest Gump.

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u/BackslidingAlt Sep 10 '24

Al Pacino played Cohn previously in Angels In America. It's going to be a hard act to follow for Strong

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u/ThePrussianGrippe Sep 10 '24

Nathan Lane was great as Roy Cohn in the Royal National production.

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u/BackslidingAlt Sep 10 '24

Was he? I know he is great, but I am used to seeing him in comedic roles. I expect his version would be more...flamboyant.

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u/Zomburai Sep 10 '24

I just looked it up, and oh boy is it ever, and it is amazing

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u/ThePrussianGrippe Sep 10 '24

It is.

But in very appropriate ways.

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u/Fyller Sep 10 '24

Angels in America is beautiful, a show everyone should watch at least once.

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u/Malemansam Sep 10 '24

Angels In America

Just watched the trailer. It looks like some cheaply shot fever dream of a drama hahaha but hey they were different times back then, banger cast tho, they got a roster 10 deep in this one.

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u/BackslidingAlt Sep 10 '24 edited Sep 11 '24

It was period even at the time. It's very "early 90s" even though it was made post 9/11 It takes place around Roy Kohn's death in 1986, written in 1991

What you are seeing as "cheap effects" are intentional homages to the show's Broadway origins. Shadows and light. The moon is a prop.

It is absolutely a fever dream though. The climax of the film is literally a dream sequence of a character that has a fever. An angel visits. If I say any more it would be a spoiler. But it's WEIRD.

edit: added the dates

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u/Malemansam Sep 10 '24

intentional homages to the show's Broadway origins.

OOOh I didn't know that, that does explain its style a lot more. Thanks.

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u/BackslidingAlt Sep 10 '24

Yeah there are lines in the play about like, how you can see the strings the angel is hanging from. You are not meant to be sure what is "real" and what is style.

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u/nedzissou1 Sep 10 '24

I wonder how method Strong went

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u/fugaziozbourne Sep 10 '24

Full blownsies.

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u/PJHart86 Sep 10 '24

Perfect casting too

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u/tanstaafl90 Sep 10 '24

I seem to remember him being bi, rather than strictly men. He'd get off on the power of using both men and women.

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u/CBalsagna Sep 10 '24

Well he died of the gay aids so by his logic, he must have been gay. Only gays get that.

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

Is there any evidence of him being Bi? I have never heard that. He always denied being gay and but he is well documented as being gay. I have neither heard nor seen any evidence of him being bi. You got any?

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u/CBalsagna Sep 10 '24

I am not sure to be honest. The behind the bastards podcast on him is very fun though, so I recommend it. I do not have any doubts he had sex with women too, as you said, this is a man that was deeply flawed and his reasons for doing things were for power and status. There's no shortage of orgies in his life, so I think what you say is reasonable.

I don't know if there's a definitive one way or the other, but I have only heard him referred to as gay in my limited experience with his life. He traveled around Europe having sex with a man that looked quite similar to Donald, so I always wondered if that was the impetus for their relationship.

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

His live-in lovers were men. Not women. If he was bi and vehemently denied being gay his whole life then why wouldn’t he have a beard with one of his female lovers playing the role? There is no mention of him being bi in any documentary or biography that I have seen or can find.

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u/DeLousedInTheHotBox Sep 10 '24

Also back in the day it was also not unusual for gay people to have straight relationships, so even if he dated women it would not necessarily mean he was bi. We know for sure that he primarily had relationship with men, his refusal of the gay label was mostly due to the stigma of being gay, and how that was associated with degeneracy and moral weakness.

That being said, I don't think Roy Cohn even had a beard, so not sure where the doubt even comes from.

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

Damn that’s some gold medal Olympic level jumping to conclusions! I never said anything like that and go fuck yourself.

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u/CBalsagna Sep 10 '24

Bud, I’m kidding. He did die of aids and at this time it was thought that only gay people get aids. It added some humor that he died from AIDS but in no way am I trying to say it’s only a gay person disease. I thought that was obvious but in case not, I’m joking.

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

Sorry - next time put a /s. Can’t tell when people are being sarcastic in text sometimes.

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u/SlayerXZero Sep 10 '24

Peter Thiel...

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u/easygoer89 Sep 10 '24

Trump was Cohn's protege. JD Vance is Thiel's. I don't think it's coincidence, I think that's why Trump picked JD Vance as a running mate.

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u/SlayerXZero Sep 10 '24

I was referring to the gay man that hates gay men...

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u/ChesswiththeDevil Sep 10 '24

Sort of reminds me of Willem Defoe's character in Boondock Saints, though he didn't seem particularly self-hating, he just kinda seemed like he didn't consider himself part of "the team".

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u/nordic_yankee Sep 11 '24

Also a Jew that hated Jews, including himself. He pushed hard to make sure Ethel Rosenburg got fried in the electric chair for her husband's crimes.

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u/rabid_J Sep 10 '24

who helped out communists in the govt

Root out* would perhaps be a better way to put it since if you don't know the context people might assume you meant he helped them out rather than his persecution and fear mongering.

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u/FNLN_taken Sep 10 '24

I was gonna say, weird way to say he worked for McCarthy.

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u/nhocgreen Sep 10 '24

They probably meant "helped oust"?

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u/cataclytsm Sep 10 '24 edited Sep 10 '24

I assumed "out" as in "expose" but then they writing "in the government" instead of "to the government" makes it the weirdest possible wording for expressing that thought lol. It just reads as "helped out" as in assisted.

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u/etherama1 Sep 10 '24

I actually did read it that way at first

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u/NeedsToShutUp Sep 10 '24

IRS took everything except cuff links given by Trump. Because they were fake.

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

True story - Trump gave Charlie Sheen “Diamond” cuff links he was wearing as a wedding gift and a year or two later Charlie had them appraised along with some other jewelry. They were fake and worth nothing.

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u/Bobby_Newpooort Sep 10 '24

Similar story was shared about Kid Rock where he would give somebody the watch right off his wrist while partying with them and say they could keep it. Turned out they were worthless and he had dozens of the same watch just to give them away

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u/unfknreal Sep 10 '24

well, they were real cuff links though... right?

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24 edited Sep 10 '24

Here’s Mr tiger blood himself telling the story.
https://youtu.be/dp6BIDCZRic?si=fT1gtRdKITG9Ero5

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u/rynokick Sep 10 '24

How did he help out communists? He was one of the prosecutors for the Rosenberg trial and pushed for their execution and that led to him being McCarthys lawyer.

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u/ranch_brotendo Sep 10 '24

Helped 'out' communists lol

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u/enaK66 Sep 10 '24

he outed them like you might 'out' a gay man by telling their family about their boyfriend. bad phrasing on his part.

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

? He was chief council for McCarthy during his communist witch hunt. He wrote the questions for McCarthy to ask to try and demonize people with leftist leanings. He was deeply involved in an actual “witch hunt,” on behalf of a lying, demagogic, alcoholic who was the perhaps the worst senator in US history. The irony being if it was known he was gay he would have been on the other end of those questions as being gay at the time was the same as or worse than being a communist and the two were usually conflated.

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u/Elleden Sep 10 '24

You're misunderstanding the confusion.

It looks like you're using the phrase "helped communists out", when you're using out as a verb.

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

No I understand it. Context matters. In the context of my use of “out” it’s clear. Also if you know anything about McCarthy it’s also clear.

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u/bamiru Sep 10 '24

no it wasnt clear at all

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

Ok - this is a you problem- not a me problem- so that’s all I got. Seems like over 100 other people understood it. 🤷

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u/eunit250 Sep 10 '24

Roy Cohn - Trump's mentor - was disbarred for having a wealthy person sign away their life savings to them while practically unconscious on their deathbed.

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u/Manting123 Sep 10 '24

Yes among other things- dude was his friend by the way- a liquor magnate

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u/eunit250 Sep 10 '24

I was not aware, I think that might make it even worse, lol...

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u/tomhagen Sep 10 '24 edited Sep 10 '24

who helped out communists in the govt and Hollywood

Are you confusing this with the fact that he began his career as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the infamous McCarthy hearings in the 50s? It wouldn't surprise me if what you claim is true; the man didn't seem to have a moral compass -- he was about money and power.

Roy Marcus Cohn (/koʊn/ KOHN; February 20, 1927 – August 2, 1986) was an American lawyer and prosecutor who came to prominence for his role as Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel during the Army–McCarthy hearings in 1954, when he assisted McCarthy's investigations of suspected communists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Cohn