Exclusive: Altimeter Films is in production on Don’t Mess With Roy Cohn, a documentary that explores the long-range impact of Roy Cohn and makes the case that Cohn’s polarizing strategies set the stage for the rise of President Donald Trump. Pic covers Cohn’s early days as right-hand man to Senator Joseph McCarthy to his growth into the quintessential New York City power broker and attorney for myriad clients that included the future U.S. president. The film contextualizes Cohn’s influence on American politics, since the 1950s. As a recent Vanity Fair story by docu producer Marie Brenner posits: “Donald Trump and Roy Cohn’s ruthless symbiosis changed America.”

The film’s directed by Matt Tyrnauer and produced by Tyrnauer and Corey Reeser’s Altimeter Films, and Brenner, in association with Wavelength Productions. Lyn Lear, Jenifer Westphal, Lynn Pincus, Ernest Pomerantz, and Elliott Sernel are exec producers...