Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice has received two Academy Award nominations for the film’s two stars, Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong.
The Apprentice stars Stan as Donald Trump and follows him, through his early real estate career with mentor Roy Cohn, played by Strong. Stan was nominated for Actor in a Leading Role while Strong was nominated for Actor in a Supporting Role.
The Canada/Ireland/Denmark coproduction, written by Gabriel Sherman, is produced by Daniel Bekerman from Toronto’s Scythia Films, Julianne Ford and Ruth Treacy from Ireland’s Tailored Films and Jacob Jarek from Denmark’s Profile Pictures. Abbasi and Louis Tisné also produce. Mongrel Media is the film’s Canadian distributor.
The duo previously received nominations from the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs, which also saw the film nominated for Best Casting. Bekerman previously told Playback Daily that the film’s awards campaign had a limited budget, but “we believe our movie, our actors and everyone else involved is deserving of recognition.”
Denis Villeneuve and his wife and filmmaker Tanya Lapointe (Lafortune en papier) were also among the nominees as producers on Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, one of the ten selections for Best Picture.
Dune: Part Two received four other nominations for Canadians this year, including Production Design noms for Academy Award-winning production designer Patrice Vermette (Dune) and set decorator Shane Vieau (The Shape of Water). Stephen James (The Last of Us) and Rhys Salcombe (Blade Runner 2049) from the B.C. office of London-headquartered VFX studio DNEG were nominated for the film’s visual effects.
Canadian directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie’s Sugarcane (Kassie Films, Hedgehog Films) received a nomination for Documentary Feature Film. Sugarcane follows an investigation of abuse and murder at a Canadian residential school. The worldwide rights of the documentary were acquired by National Geographic in early 2024.
In Costume Design, Toronto’s Linda Muir received a nomination for her work on Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu. Muir had previously worked on Eggers’ 2015 Canadian coproduction The Witch and has worked as a costume designer for all of his films since. Toronto-based Craig Lathrop received a nomination for Nosferatu in Production Design. Similar to Muir, Lathrop has collaborated as a production designer on Eggers’ films since The Witch.
With files from Andy Fry
Image courtesy of Scythia Films