The Apprentice explores Roy Cohn's mentorship of a young Donald Trump, leading audiences to wonder about the real-life figure behind the movie. Directed by Ali Abbasi, the 2024 film follows Trump in the 1970s and '80s as a young businessman with high hopes for his future. He begins the film sitting at a high-end social club, admiring the great and wealthy men around him, and it isn't until meeting Roy Cohn that he acquires the tools perceived as being necessary to become like them. Cohn and Trump are played by Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice's cast.

Abbasi's movie introduces Roy Cohn as a cold, calculating, practically devil-like figure who teaches Trump how to mingle with the wealthy and survive in a cutthroat business world. By the point audiences are introduced to Cohn, he's already an established figure socializing with the likes of Tony Salerno,...