"EXTRAORDINARY COWARDICE"

Sean Penn Rails Against Oscars and Backs Wild Trump Biopic

Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” is so visceral that Trump’s lawyer’s tried to block it from release earlier this year.

Sean Penn has thrown his weight behind a controversial biopic about a young Donald Trump, as he accused The Academy of “extraordinary cowardice”. Penn, speaking at a star-studded Marrakech Film Festival, said the cinematic guild that presents the Oscars “have largely been part of limiting the imagination and very limiting of different cultural expressions.” He also lauded the Ali Abbasi-directed The Apprentice—which Trump’s lawyers tried to block from release earlier this year— saying that “when something sneaks through, it’s to be celebrated.” “It’s jaw-dropping how afraid this [so-called] business of mavericks is of a great film like that. One with great, great acting. [It’s amazing] that they too can be as afraid as a piddly little Republican congressman,” he said. The biopic about president-elect Donald Trump’s business career in New York real estate detailed the relationship with Roy Cohn that made Trump who he is today.