Trump movie ‘The Apprentice,’ with Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong, headed to Cannes Film Fest

NEW YORK — The formative years of Donald Trump will be the focus of a biographical film set to compete at the 77th Cannes Film Festival next month.

Iranian Danish director Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” — with Marvel Cinematic Universe heartthrob Sebastian Stan starring as the young real estate tycoon, before reality TV fame and politics — was announced on Thursday as part of the main competition of the festival being held in the south of France from May 14-25.

The forthcoming film takes its title from the wildly popular NBC reality show, which catapulted the future U.S. president into the mainstream zeitgeist during the mid-to-late aughts.

Described as “an exploration of power and ambition set in a world of corruption and deceit,” the film also stars Emmy Award-winning “Succession” star Jeremy Strong portraying New York City attorney and right-wing political power broker Roy Cohn, who served as Trump’s mentor before he died in 1986.

In a recent interview, the in-demand actor — currently starring in Broadway’s “Enemy of the People” — described the role as his “most fascinating” to date.

“Roy Cohn, you can’t overstate his influence in our country, his legacy of the denial of reality and certain things that he imparted to Donald Trump,” he told the New York Times last month. “His playbook has a tentacular reach that is staggering — the most fascinating person I’ve ever tried to inhabit.”

“I should say a disclaimer: My job is to be a humanistic investigator of a subject and to withhold judgment,” Strong added. “So while I personally might have a lot of judgment about Roy Cohn, that is not the part of me that engages in the creative work.”

Maria Bakalova, who earned an Academy Award nomination for 2020’s “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” stars as Trump’s first wife, Ivana. “Weeds” star Martin Donovan portrays his father, Fred Trump Sr.

An exact U.S. release date for “The Apprentice” has not been announced.