The Donald Trump biopic, titled The Apprentice, has been making waves since before it even got in front of cameras, and chatter only appeared to increase when images of Sebastian Stan as the former-President hit social media. One person who doesn't seem to be too keen on it, though, is Trump, and his legal team made that fact loud and clear to the team behind the biopic while they were at Cannes.

Director Ali Abbasi and several of The Apprentice's producers were on hand at the Cannes Film Festival for the film's premiere and looking for a distribution deal when they reportedly received a cease-and-desist letter from Trump's legal team, according to Variety. The letter is the latest attempt to halt any potential distribution of the film, which has faced scrutiny from Trump's camp since it was originally announced.

The team behind The Apprentice pushed back against the letter in a statement, defending the film and its merits.

“The film is a fair and balanced portrait of the former president,”  the statement said. “We want everyone to see it and then decide.”

Scene from The Apprentice.

Abbasi spoke further about the legal threat at a press conference after the premiere, where he did not appear worried.

“Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people — they don’t talk about his success rate though, you know?” Abbasi said at the conference, jokingly adding that he thought Trump would even enjoy the film.

“You're Fired!”

The Apprentice had its first screenings at Cannes, with the film receiving a largely positive reception from those in attendance for its premiere. Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong's performances as Donald Trump and Roy Kohn, respectively, were cited as two of the film's biggest highlights.

First announced in 2018, The Apprentice will follow Trump during the formative years of his business and real estate career in New York City. The film will especially focus on Trump's relationship with Roy Cohn, the then-New York City prosecutor and former-chief counsel to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, and how influential it was in Trump's life and career.

Author and journalist Gabriel Sherman was confirmed to be penning the script for The Apprentice at the time of the film's announcement, though Abbasi would not be announced as its director until October 2023. Stan and Strong's castings were announced shortly after and the film got in front of cameras not long after that.

As development picked up speed, Trump's camp began voicing their displeasure with the film as more details about the film were released including the inclusion of a scene where Trump sexually assaults his first wife, Ivana.

“This ‘film' is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a public statement.