The Apprentice 'narrowly escaped censorship', according to actor Jeremy Strong

‘The Apprentice’ “narrowly escaped censorship”, according to Jeremy Strong.

The 45-year-old actor stars as lawyer Roy Cohn in the biopic based on former US president Donald Trump, and was “disturbed” by how it seemed to have been dismissed by those in Hollywood months before its release.

He told The Sunday Times: “We very narrowly escaped the jaws of censorship — in 2024. I found it profoundly disturbing and a dark harbinger of things to come,.

“Frankly, everyone in Hollywood passed on it because they were afraid of litigation or repercussions. I don’t think Hollywood has ever been a bastion of bravery, but that was disappointing.”

Jeremy – who stars opposite Sebastian Stan as the billionaire Republican leader – insisted that the film has been researched with “veracity” and claimed as Trump goes head-to-head with Democrat Kamala Harris in the November elections that the “mess” in politics these days is caused by the constant “demonisation” of the opposition.

He said: “The film is researched with journalistic veracity. We pass no judgment but try to understand these people. Part of the mess we are in is due to us demonising the other side and so it would be wildly irresponsible to make a movie about Trump that just vilifies him. It’s not bad to gain insight and empathy. Roy recited a poem to juries that feels important here. It went, ‘In men who men condemn as ill,/ I find so much of goodness still./ In men who men pronounce divine/ I find so much of sin and rot./ I do not dare to draw a line/ between the two where God has not”

‘The Apprentice’ will be released in cinemas on October 18.