Johnny Depp stars as Donald Trump in Funny or Die biopic ‘The Art of the Deal: The Movie’
Johnny Depp as Donald Trump (Funny or Die)
A year ago, which idea would’ve sounded crazier: Donald Trump will win the 2016 New Hampshire Republican primary, or Johnny Depp will star as the brash billionaire in a 50-minute online biopic produced by an Oscar-nominated director?
Both became reality overnight as Trump won the GOP primary and Funny or Die released “Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie,” starring Depp as the Donald and produced by Adam McKay, the website’s co-founder and director of “The Big Short,” an Academy Award contender.
“It was a crazy, completely nuts idea that somehow we pulled off,” McKay told the New York Times about the surprise production, which was kept under wraps until it began streaming on the website Wednesday.
The faux film, which borrows its name from Trump’s 1987 best-selling business advice book, also stars director Ron Howard (as himself), “Saturday Night Live” actress Michaela Watkins (as Ivana Trump), comedian Patton Oswalt (as Merv Griffin) and others. It was shot over four days in December.
Depp, who portrayed James “Whitey” Bulger in last year’s “Black Mass,” reportedly brought a team of makeup artists to transform himself into the bombastic real estate mogul. (The result is something of a Trump-Frank Caliendo hybrid, but it works just fine.)
“The plan was to move really fast because we thought Trump would go away, as least as a presidential candidate,” Funny or Die Editor-in-Chief Owen Burke told the newspaper. “When he bizarrely didn’t go away, we had a little more time.”
The release was timed to coincide with Trump’s primary win.
Of course, it’s not Funny or Die’s first foray into presidential politics. In 2010, the Will Ferrell-backed website produced a digital video short imagining President Obama getting a surprise visit from former Presidents George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. The skit featured Ferrell and his fellow president-impersonating “Saturday Night Live” alums Chevy Chase, Fred Armisen, Darrell Hammond, Dan Aykroyd, Dana Carvey and others.
And in 2014, Obama became the first sitting president in U.S. history to appear on “Between Two Ferns,” Funny or Die’s intentionally awkward interview series, hosted by comedian Zach Galifianakis.
“I have to know: What’s it like to be the last black president?” Galifianakis asked.
“Seriously?” Obama replied. “What’s it like for this to be the last time you ever talk to a president?”
The two traded one-liners throughout the six-minute video, which was part of the White House’s bid to get young people to sign up for health care.
And this month, “Triumph’s Election Special,” produced by Funny or Die and featuring Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, began streaming on Hulu.
But Trump has been a frequent target for Funny or Die since his campaign launch. On Tuesday, the site released “The Trumpening,” a mashup of the Republican frontrunner and the horror film “The Conjuring.”
