thesis film wiki

Jotted Lines

A Collection Of Essays

Tesis / Thesis (1996 Movie): Summary & Analysis

Summary: .

Film student Ángela is writing her thesis on violence in audiovisual media. At the university, she discovers the body of her thesis director, Prof. Figueroa, who died while watching a video that turns out to be a snuff film. The plot of this psychological thriller unfolds through Ángela’s research on the disappearance of a former classmate, tortured and murdered on tape. Unsure about whom to trust, Ángela is targeted as the next victim as she draws closer to exposing an underground ring of snuff films produced by a fellow student and professor. Set in the 1990s, the film engages a critique of violence in television and film, market forces producing audiovisual media, and voyeuristic desires of audiences, as well as the burgeoning practices of security camera vigilance in public spaces. 

Amenábar’s feature-length debut, a psychological thriller of the intrigue genre about ‘snuff’ film, is in many ways an exploration into the darkest underside of the demand for spectacle in which visual media are produced, whether for television or film. As the film student Ángela pursues research for her thesis on audiovisual violence (‘a daily occurrence in film and television’), her desire to view footage all too graphic to appear in the media is eclipsed by the dangers of exposing an underground ring of snuff films produced in the university. It is this turn from Ángela’s interest in viewing graphic violence to the threat that she herself could become the next victim of a snuff film which structures the narrative for viewers, similarly to the genre of a detective thriller whodunit, in which all relationships outside the family are suspect. The ensuing intrigue confronts viewers with complex questions about spectatorship itself in which the morbid interest in seeing tortured and mutilated bodies censored from the public eye is satisfied by an underground market that must ‘give the audience what it wants to see’, as Professor Castro (one author of the snuff ring) lectures to his film students. In this sense, the notion of desire constructed in the film is understood as a complex, intersecting terrain of psychological, market-driven, and sociocultural factors which generate, at once, the spectator’s libidinal desire to consume censored images, an underground market of snuff film produced in response to the demand for violence, and the gendered roles of the characters as either objects or perpetrators of this violence, among others. The demand for morbid images, in other words, exists within a market economy inseparable from the characters’ fascination with and horror for ‘real’ explicit visual material that is censored or in the case of Ángela’s research subject, conspicuous in the media. 

Notably, it is only once Ángela perceives that she is being pursued as the next victim of the snuff ring, as the very object of filmed violence which both terrifies and intrigues her, that her desire to view graphic images begins to wane, leading her to abandon her research altogether by the end of the film. Nevertheless, Ángela’s ambiguous transformation from a subject who desires to see recorded violence to become herself a target of ‘real’ violence is not entirely clear given that Amenábar constructs desire for his audience in less simplistic terms.1 Viewers are shown images of Ángela peeking through her fingers to catch a glimpse of the filmed horror that so fascinates her, an ambivalence which is evidently more complex in her character’s psychological portrait. For, Ángela also fantasises about a sexual encounter with the suspect Bosco in a disturbing dream sequence which oscillates between Ángela’s terrified resistance to her aggressor, who subdues her in bed with a suggestive phallic switchblade, and her erotic attempt held at knifepoint to seduce Bosco, which could be read as a survival tactic were it not for the director’s choice to portray this scene disturbingly with evident lust. To her horror, a dreaming Ángela realises that she is being filmed during the sex act, as an object of desire targeted for annihilation, which draws a clear parallel for the film’s viewers between woman as object in pornography and the brutal victimisation of the innocent in snuff. This parallel is furthermore reinforced by an earlier shot of the university film catalogue in which hardcore ‘pornography and other films’ (snuff) are categorised and archived together. The dream sequence, along with the late revelation that Ángela has been filmed secretly at home by her co-researcher Chema – a recording in which she caresses and kisses the image of Bosco displayed on the television screen – emphasises the perverse trappings of a desire through which Ángela’s character, unknown to the film’s audience, had demonstrated a conscious, invested sexual interest in the suspect Bosco, caught on tape. The voyeuristic recording likewise exposes her projected desire for simulacrum in the form of images (in film, television), a scene with greater social implications than Ángela’s character portrait alone. Sexual desire is played out similarly in displaced ways among other characters, in Bosco’s attempt to seduce Ángela’s unsuspecting younger sister, in Ángela’s ‘feigned’ kiss with Bosco in order to distance her sister from the suspected assassin, in the alleged jealousy of Bosco’s girlfriend towards Ángela, in Chema’s voyeuristic recording of Ángela, and even between men in Bosco and Chema’s former friendship which remained a secret to Ángela, a suspicious matter when this bond was revealed to her by Bosco’s girlfriend. 

In this sense, Ángela’s confession earlier in the film ‘I don’t like to be recorded’ echoes Amenábar’s recurrent questioning of camera vigilance and its blurred distinction between the public eye and private intimacy, whether subjects are deliberately filmed, as in these scenes, or passively recorded by the university’s security cameras which provide evidence to incriminate Ángela in the discovery of Professor Figueroa’s dead body in the auditorium. Viewers might draw an immediate comparison between the growing presence of security cameras in public space at the time of the film’s release and Amenábar’s critique of camera vigilance, both public and private. Moving beyond this initial assessment, the film also suggests that even when institutional vigilance is justified under the guise of security (i.e., mandated by the university or state), and thereby presumably void of subjective interest, a voyeuristic desire indeed underpins authority and serves to both conserve and usurp it; as viewers will remember, the closed circuit cameras incriminate Ángela, but also film Professor Castro’s suspicious lurking presence in the university film archive before Figueroa’s death. 

In its increasingly muddied distinction between the public and private, intimacy and vigilance, the film also problematises the strict separation between access to mediated (recorded or simulated) violence in the form of images and ‘real violence’ experienced in the first person.2 Viewers are reminded throughout the film that any absolute distinction between the ‘mediated’ and the ‘real’ – whether desire, violent images, or otherwise – is ultimately ungrounded. Ángela asks Chema if he has ever seen a real dead body, which gives way to two interpretations: Chema asserts that he has, in the explicit video recordings he watches with Ángela, and yet to the contrary, for Ángela audiovisual violence is not ‘real’ per se (she argues, ‘not on television, but a real dead body’). From the film’s opening sequence in a train station, in which Ángela approaches the train tracks desiring to view a ‘body split in two’ that is never actually seen (through the camera that occupies her first-person gaze), Amenábar structures the film’s imagery, and at times Ángela’s sight, through similar camerawork that seldom shows significant footage of gore, if at all.3 Instead, the characters’ horror is transmitted to the audience through shots of their expressions when viewing the snuff film and, most importantly, through the viewer’s psychological response when imagining violent images through the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound, particularly in the victim’s chilling screams for help as she is being tortured. In fact, Amenábar’s choice not to show viewers significant violence or gore, but rather to play on the viewer’s horror by imagining this violence through sound, is perhaps most noteworthy for film students interested in Amenábar’s use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound in conjunction with the full omission of visual information (i.e. established as a motif in the opening sequence with a recorded voice-off which fades to the first frame).4 Chema and Ángela’s tense adventure into the cellar of the university archives, equipped with only a box of matches that must be lit consecutively, also plays with the audience’s ability to see only the duration of each lighted match, interspersed with shots of complete darkness which play upon the viewer’s expectations of surprise in the thriller genre. Such is the nature of Ángela’s psychological, imaginative horror when she chooses not to view the snuff film, at first, but darkens her television screen through the contrast function so that only the audio recording can be heard, which proves disturbing for her character in later scenes, as she listens obsessively to the film’s audio recording on her portable tape recorder. 

Nevertheless, it should be noted that when violent images are shown to the film’s viewers, Amenábar often chooses to demonstrate the characters’ ability to analyse them critically. For, the rapid advances in digital camera technology at the time are what lead Chema and Ángela to deduce the brand of camera used to record the snuff film, through a close analysis of the recording’s image quality, as well as the camera’s date of release and purchase, which would serve as vital information to track down Professor Castro and Bosco as leaders of the snuff ring. Chema and Ángela furthermore provide a ‘close visual reading’ of the quick jump cuts in post-production editing, which aim to delete the victim’s mention of her torturer’s name, allowing them to conclude that the victim knows her murderer. It could be argued that these two fundamental pieces of information, used to crack the case, are derived from the protagonists’ critical analysis of graphic images, providing a similar key to Amenábar’s proposal for his viewers to deconstruct their own relationship to violence with critical reflection. 

One should note that the word morbo used to describe Ángela’s ‘morbid’ desire to view extreme, violent images, is defined in Spanish as both ‘an unhealthy interest in persons or things’ and ‘an attraction to unpleasant events’. In this sense, the film’s dark reflection on spectatorship and the morbid fascination with explicit images in the media may be traced to the film’s release, contemporary to the upsurge in violence in Spanish cinema at the time, noted by Jordan and MorganTamosunas, Klodt, Moreiras-Menor and Tierney, among others, as well as the flourishing of the first private television networks in Spain in the 1990s. Summarised in the market-driven maxim of Professor Castro on the film industry, to provide viewers literally with what they most desire to see, programming in commercial television is largely dependent upon the number of viewers in a given audience share, supported by advertising spots (see Maxwell 1995). It is no surprise that Amenábar closes the film, then, with a sequence of images from a fictitious sensationalist news show, Justice and Law, whose anchor summarises the ‘unbelievable’ and ‘macabre’ story of gruesome murders of disappeared girls found on tape. Framing for her audience that it is ‘not easy for us to show these images,’ the anchor both conditions the viewer’s expectations before seeing the footage (‘and now, the images you’ve been waiting for’) and justifies the broadcast as ‘a document by itself’, unmediated and lacking critical analysis. In this final sequence, the camera shows Chema and Ángela walking through the hallway of a hospital, interspersed with images of patients fixated on the same television broadcast, a suggestive critique of a greater social desire to view violence in televised media, which is not altogether unique to Spain.5 Keeping in mind the film’s potential to question intimacy, vigilance, and the increasingly blurry distinction between the public and private – a more subtle gesture than the explicit nature of extreme violence in the film’s exploration of snuff – one could conclude in this final scene that Amenábar proposes a greater social critique of the production of and desire to consume images in a market-driven economy that jettisons ethical considerations in favour of audience share or box office revenue. In other words, the viewing audience most desires to consume, with morbid fascination, not only violence but voyeurism in which private matters are made public – the form of television programming that defines sensationalist news media and the gossip varieties of popular talk shows that turn the intimate details of private lives into spectacle-driven commodities for mass consumption. After all, perhaps summarised most disturbingly for the film’s viewers, when Ángela kisses the television screen, her secret desire for the assassin is only made public, terrifyingly and intriguingly so for the viewing audience, when caught on tape. 

Notes 

1. As Cristina Moreiras-Menor argues, ‘Lejos … de ser una película que trabaja exclusivamente en torno a la mirada fascinada del sujeto contemporáneo hacia la violencia, Tesis va más allá al exponer tanto su razón, la espectacularización masiva e indiferencia de la realidad, como su origen, la formación del sujeto y la manipulación de su mirada a la realidad a partir de procesos simbólicos de educación asentados fundamentalmente en estructuras de poder (institucionalizadas) que privilegian la espectacularización consumista del lado más sórdido de la naturaleza humana y social’ [Far … from being a film that works exclusively around the fascinated gaze of the contemporary subject towards violence, Tesis goes beyond this to expose both its raison d’être, mass spectacularization and indifference towards reality, and its origin, the formation of the subject and manipulation of the subject’s view of reality from symbolic processes of education seated fundamentally in (institutionalized) structures of power that privilege consumerist spectacularization of human and social nature’s most sordid side.] (Moreiras-Menor 2002: 260). 

2. See Dolores Tierney, ‘The Appeal of the Real in Snuff: Alejandro Amenábar’s Tesis (“Thesis”)’, Spectator – The University of Southern California Journal of Film and Television, Vol. 22, No. 2, Fall 2002, pp. 45–55. 

3. As Amenábar notes, ‘opté por el camino opuesto, mirando hacia el otro lado, a la cara de los actores, jugando con la proyección psicológica del espectador, con lo que no está viendo, con lo que se está imaginando’ [I chose the opposite route, looking the other way, at the actors’ faces, playing with the psychological projection of the viewer, with what one is not seeing, with what one is imagining.] (Marchante 2002: 59). 

4. See Dominique Russell, ‘Sounds like Horror: Alejandro Amenábar’s Thesis on AudioVisual Violence’, Canadian Journal of Film Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, Fall 2006, pp. 81–95. 

5. See Jason E. Klodt, ‘En el fondo te gusta: Titillation, Desire, and the Spectator’s Gaze in Alejandro Amenábar’s Tesis’, Studies in Hispanic Cinemas, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2007, pp. 3–17. 

Cast and Crew:

[Country: Spain. Production Company: Las Producciones del Escorpión and SOGEPAQ. Director: Alejandro Amenábar. Executive producers: José Luis Cuerda and Emiliano Otegui. Screenwriters: Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil. Cinematographer: Hans Burmann. Music: Alejandro Amenábar and Mariano Marín. Editor: María Elena Sáinz de Rozas. Cast: Ana Torrent (Ángela), Fele Martínez (Chema), Eduardo Noriega (Bosco Herranz), Xabier Elorriaga (Castro), Miguel Picazo (Figueroa), Nieves Herranz (Sena), Rosa Campillo (Yolanda).] 

Further Reading 

Barry Jordan and Rikki Morgan-Tamosunas, Contemporary Spanish Cinema, Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 1998. 

Oti Rodríguez Marchante, Amenábar, vocación de intriga, Madrid, Páginas de Espuma, 2002. 

Steven Marsh and Parvati Nair (eds), Gender and Spanish Cinema, Oxford and New York, Berg, 2004. 

Rosanna Maule, ‘Cultural Specificity and Transnational Address in the New Generation of Spanish Film Authors: The Case of Alejandro Amenábar’, in Cristina Sánchez-Conejero (ed.), Spanishness in the Spanish Novel and Cinema of the 20th-21st Century, Newcastle, Cambridge Scholars, 2007, pp. 107–20. 

Richard Maxwell, The Spectacle of Democracy: Spanish Television, Nationalism, and Political Transition, Minneapolis, MN, University of Minneapolis Press, 1995. 

Cristina Moreiras-Menor, Cultura herida: Literatura y cine en la España democrática, Madrid, Ediciones Libertarias, 2002. 

Joan Ramon Resina (ed.), Burning Darkness: A Half Century of Spanish Cinema, Albany, NY, State University of New York Press, 2008. 

Paul Julian Smith, Television in Spain, from Franco to Almodóvar, Woodbridge, UK and Rochester, New York, Tamesis, 2006. 

Source Credits:

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Films, Edited by Sarah Barrow, Sabine Haenni and John White, first published in 2015.

Related Posts:

• Shutter Island: A Review
• Movie Genre Analysis: The Hangover (2009)
• Paris (2008) by Cedric Klapisch
• Oldboy by Park Chan Wook: An Analysis
• Key lifespan developmental issues in The Cider House Rules
• Heaven and Earth (Ten To Chi To) by Haruki Kadokawa

• Rankings FA
• TV Premiere Calendar
• Coming in 2024
• Latest Reviews
• Cannes 2024 New

• Credits 
• Image gallery  [10]

All images are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders and/or producers/distributors.

• Paco Hernández

• Joserra Cadiñanos
• Pilar Ortega
• Olga Margallo

• Walter Prieto

• See all credits
• #11 Best Spanish Movies of all time
• #49 Best Movies of the '90s
• #52 Best Thrillers in the history of film
• #60 Best Mystery Films
• "Alejandro Amenábar balances actual, terrifying visuals with Hitchcockian red herrings for one of the best debut films in years"  Jason Newman : Rolling Stone
• "Despite some whopping improbabilities 'Thesis' generates genuine tension"  Joe Leydon : Variety
• 2 My Favorite Movies from Spain (609)
• 15 My Favorite Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Movies (411)
• 39 My Favorites from the 90s (205)
• 58 My Favorite Movies from Europe & Latin America (42)
• 60 My Favorite Cult Classics (125)
• 76 My Favorite Horror Movies (220)
• 76 My 10 favorite Film Directors and my favorite movie of each one of them (68)
• 92 My 10 favorite active Film Directors and my favorite movie of each one of them (8)

All copyrighted material (movie posters, DVD covers, stills, trailers) and trademarks belong to their respective producers and/or distributors.

User history

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

• Start a new list…
• Add all films to a list…
• Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

Directed by Alejandro Amenábar

My name is Angela. They're going to kill me.

While doing a thesis about violence, Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that the girl was a former student in her faculty...

Ana Torrent Fele Martínez Eduardo Noriega Xabier Elorriaga Miguel Picazo Nieves Herranz Rosa Campillo Paco Hernández Rosa Ávila Teresa Castanedo José Miguel Caballero Joserra Cadiñanos Julio Vélez Pilar Ortega Olga Margallo José Luis Cuerda Emiliano Otegui Walter Prieto Florentino Sainz Helena Castañeda

Director Director

Alejandro Amenábar

Producers Producers

José Luis Cuerda Alejandro Amenábar Hans Burmann Wolfgang Burmann Julio Madurga Emiliano Otegui María Elena Sáinz de Rozas Ricardo Steinberg

Writers Writers

Mateo Gil Alejandro Amenábar

Editor Editor

María Elena Sáinz de Rozas

Cinematography Cinematography

Hans Burmann

Assistant Director Asst. Director

Executive producers exec. producers.

Emiliano Otegui José Luis Cuerda

Production Design Production Design

Wolfgang Burmann

Composers Composers

Alejandro Amenábar Mariano Marín

Sound Sound

Pelayo Gutiérrez Nacho Royo-Villanova Ricardo Steinberg

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup makeup.

Paca Almenara

Sogepaq Las Producciones del Escorpión S.L.

Releases by Date

11 apr 1996, 26 jun 1997, 22 nov 1997, 22 apr 2003, 07 oct 2009, releases by country.

• Physical 18

Netherlands

• Theatrical 16
• Physical 16 DVD

South Korea

• Theatrical 18

125 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by claudia 🦋 ★★★★½ 8

my chemical romance = mi romance con chema

Review by TheDayILetGo ★★★½ 8

La escena más surrealista de la película es cuando el Chema se ducha

Review by IllMakeYouLaugh ★★★½ 1

Chema? More like Chemistry. Plz kiss me film daddy

Review by kathleen ☆ *:･ﾟ ★★★★★ 1

i wish they had letterboxd

Review by NoCopZone ★★★½ 4

~𝖕 𝖚 𝖗 𝖊 𝖉 𝖗 𝖊 𝖆 𝖉~

straight men are scary, the movie.

do they want to fuck you or kill you? yes

Review by Lola ★★★★

incel vs chad: the movie

Review by Gio ★★★★½

You know she’s a film major when she has a My Own Private Idaho poster in her room

Review by ana ★★★★ 2

que el estereotipo de filmbro cinéfilo rancio indie pick me boy no haya cambiado en 30 años needs to be studied

Review by Picus💀 ★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

. 　。　　　　•　 　ﾟ　　。 　　.　　　.　　　 　　.　　　　　。　　 。　. 　.　　 。　 ඞ 。　 . • ° • Chema was not the Impostor. 。　. . 2 Impostors remaining 　 .　　。　　　　　　ﾟ　　　.　　　　　.

Review by Jacob ★★★★ 12

Los delirios de Alfred Hitchcock han perseguido a toda una generación de cineastas, algunos charlatanes y otros dignos sucesores pero Tésis de Almenábar es mucho más que esto último.

Es un nuevo y transmutado sentido del pánico en un misterio lleno de sensaciones inquietantes. Las pistas falsas, revelaciones dentro de las revelaciones, personajes ambiguos, secuencias ensordecedoras y tensión para romperte los dientes pues el director español es todo un maestro en la construcción de atmosferas opresivas a la hora de filmar, sobre todo en la obscuridad.

Donde las sombras y los rincones siempre están sugiriendo algo en la misma medida que el misterio maquina nuevas incógnitas, cada cual mas espeluznante que la anterior.

Pero dentro de todo el argumento nos…

Review by charlotte ★★★★

“You sound like the police” “Don’t insult me”

Chema, i have feelings for you 🥰

Review by AlexIndo ★★★★★ 1

¿𝖣𝖾 𝗊𝗎é 𝖼𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗋 𝗌𝗈𝗇 𝗆𝗂𝗌 𝗈𝗃𝗈𝗌?

Similar Films

Mentioned by

Select your preferred poster

Upgrade to remove ads.

Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Please consider upgrading to a Pro account —for less than a couple bucks a month, you’ll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages ( example ), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads!

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Link to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Link to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
• Babes Link to Babes

New TV Tonight

• Evil: Season 4
• Trying: Season 4
• Tires: Season 1
• Fairly OddParents: A New Wish: Season 1
• Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A.: Season 1
• Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza: Season 1
• Jurassic World: Chaos Theory: Season 1
• Mulligan: Season 2
• The 1% Club: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• Dark Matter: Season 1
• Outer Range: Season 2
• Bodkin: Season 1
• Bridgerton: Season 3
• Fallout: Season 1
• Sugar: Season 1
• The 8 Show: Season 1
• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• Doctor Who: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Bridgerton: Season 3 Link to Bridgerton: Season 3
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Cannes Film Festival 2024: Movie Scorecard

30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming

Asian-American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Weekend Box Office Results: John Krasinski’s IF Rises to the Top

Hugh Jackman Knew “Deep in His Gut” That He Wanted to Play Wolverine Again

• Trending on RT
• Furiosa First Reviews
• Most Anticipated 2025 Movies
• Cannes Film Festival Preview
• TV Premiere Dates

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Alejandro Amenábar

Ana Torrent

Fele Martínez

Eduardo Noriega

Rosa Campillo

Miguel Picazo

More Like This

Thesis (1996)

Full cast & crew.

Directed by 

Writing credits  , cast (in credits order)  , produced by , music by , cinematography by , editing by , production design by , costume design by , makeup department , production management , second unit director or assistant director , art department , sound department , special effects by , camera and electrical department , costume and wardrobe department , editorial department , music department , additional crew , thanks .

Release Dates | Official Sites | Company Credits | Filming & Production | Technical Specs

Contribute to This Page

• Full Cast and Crew
• Release Dates
• Official Sites
• Company Credits
• Filming & Production
• Technical Specs
• Plot Summary
• Plot Keywords
• Parents Guide

Did You Know?

• Crazy Credits
• Alternate Versions
• Connections
• Soundtracks

Photo & Video

• Photo Gallery
• Trailers and Videos
• User Reviews
• User Ratings
• External Reviews
• Metacritic Reviews

Related Items

• External Sites

Related lists from IMDb users

Recently Viewed

Hazbin Hotel Wiki

Hello and welcome to Hell! Here we are a community where we bring you accurate content pertaining to Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss . Please avoid adding theories or unconfirmed content. For Discussions, be sure to post spoilers only in the HH & HB Discussions category . Read at your own risk .

• Voice actors
• Helluva Boss voice actors
• Hazbin Hotel voice actors

Vivienne Medrano

• View history

Vivienne Medrano , known online as Vivziepop , is a Salvadoran-American [1] animator, illustrator, comic creator, and voice actress best known for creating the series, Hazbin Hotel , and its spin-off series, Helluva Boss .

She voices the characters Keenie and Deerie , as well as several background characters in Helluva Boss .

• 1 Personal Life
• 3.1 Helluva Boss
• 5.1 Staff Artwork
• 7 External Links
• 8 References

Personal Life

Vivienne was born and raised in Maryland.

She has been animating since she was little, pausing movies to trace the screen of her favorite expressions. In the third grade, one of her classes gave her access to a simple animation program with about as many tools as Microsoft Paint , still, the swan she managed to make move on her computer screen captivated her and she fell in love with the art form. [2]

Vivienne studied at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City starting in 2010, graduating in 2014. During her education at SVA, she uploaded her third-year thesis film The Son of 666 (2013) to YouTube, along with her senior thesis film Timber (2014), which won the 2014 Dusty Award.

In 2012, Vivienne started a webcomic series called ZooPhobia . The comic series gained a dedicated fan-following, but went on an indefinite hiatus since November 2016.

In October 2014, after graduating from SVA, Vivienne uploaded a fan-animated music video to YouTube, featuring Zoophobia character JayJay singing "Die Young" by Ke$ha . The video currently has over 70 million views. Vivienne talked about it "boosting her channel up" and helping her gain an audience early in her career. That video has now been unlisted, presumably due to copyright reasons.

In 2016, Vivienne attended a two week summer course at Gobelins, L'École de L'Image , school of visual communication and arts in Paris.

In 2015, Vivienne had been commissioned to animate for two music videos, " Sing Along " by Jessica Reynoso and the " Five Nights at Freddy's Song " by Good Mythical Morning featuring Markiplier, as well as the art for Gooseworx's orchestral cover of " Sirius ".

In July 2016, she moved to California.

In 2017, she worked as an animator in the internet series Too Loud! created by Nico Colaleo on DreamworksTV. [3] [4] [5]

Helluva Boss

Ashley's OC of Vivziepop

• Vivienne stated in a tweet that herself being a proud fiery Latina, Vaggie is the character she related to most in Hazbin Hotel . In the same tweet saying that Vaggie and Charlie are like sides of herself, having an ambitious side and the temperamental wanting to defend herself and others side. [6]
• She also said in the same tweet that her parents are the ones who inspired her to work hard. [7]
• In an interview Vivienne explained that she grew up Presbyterian and remembers going to church and questioning a lot of stories in the Bible. [8]
• Vivienne Medrano, Sam Miller and Skye Henwood got matching tattoos of the Hazbin Hotel key in December 2021; Vivienne getting it on her right shoulder. [9]
• Vivienne explained in an interview that she loves directing, which she says was something she never thought was something she would enjoy. She went on to say that over the course of Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel she stopped animating and is no longer an animator, instead focusing on the "oversight roles" such as directing, approvals and redlining, and she feels a lot of fulfillment in that. [10]
• Some of her favorite musicals include Annie , which is a musical she fondly recalls getting the lead role in as a child, Little Shop of Horrors , and Hello Dolly . [11]
• She cites darker media and stories containing strong villain characters as something she gravitates towards. The Joker from the 90s' animated Batman series is one of her all-time favorite fictional characters. [12]
• Another influence she always had is Futurama , saying that she loves how memorable each of its one-off characters are. [13]
• In an interview on October 17, 2023, Vivziepop stated that her biggest influences are with music, and that with the musical side of things in her series she likes to turn to music for inspiration. She also adds that she adores adaptations of any kind, especially of a pre-existing mythos, or lore, or folklore, and that Hazbin Hotel comes from biblical sources and demonology, with the series being her take on those pre-established things. [14]
• Vivziepop feels that despite animation being where her characters get to be the most expressive, the most of themselves, and where she has the most freedom of casting, she would love someday for there to be a Hazbin Hotel or a Hazbin-related Broadway musical, and that it would be unreal to have characters she made on stage in any way. [15]
• According to Sam Haft , Vivienne Medrano talks about BoJack all the time in interviews and in real life. [17]
• On January 7, 2015, Vivziepop said Kill la Kill is one of her top favorite shows, and that the show became a huge source of inspiration. Additionally, she said Senketsu is hands down her favorite but she loves Ryuko too. [18]
• In the art of herself she lists liking musicals, dinosaurs, villains, bones, cartoons, hot chocolate, true crime docs, avocado, snakes , whales , cats , owls , eels , and animals, and lists disliking chimpanzees, bacon, moving, cockroaches, creeps, "Juno", and driving in LA. [19]
• In a reply to that tweet she included a "more accurate" doodle of herself with her likes being bowties and her dislikes being planes. [20]
• Vivienne picked up Pixel on October 18th, 2014. [22]
• As of July 11th, 2020, Vivienne had adopted Nugget. [ citation needed ]
• Vivienne uses Discord light mode because it is a pretty shade of yellow. [24]
• Sir Pentious is one of Vivienne's favorite designs of any of her characters partly because of his yellow colors. [25]
• She is bisexual. [26]
• She was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). [27] She discusses issues managing such a heavy workload with the disorder, mentioning how it allows her to hyper-focus and get a lot done over short periods of time, before burning out very quickly. [28]
• Her favorite holiday is Christmas. [29]
• Her nickname "Big Viv" is in reference to her larger-than-life attitude.
• She draws on a Wacom Cintiq 22 HD, and she primarily sketches and makes corrections for the shows she works on in Paint Tool Sai.
• She was featured in 2010, 2011, and 2014 on Drawing Tutorials.com, a YouTube channel started by SVA professor Matthew Archambault, and gave sketchbook tours.
• After Vivienne's "Die Young" video became successful on YouTube, she was contacted by Mick Lauer , who brought her into his fold of Newgrounds artist friends, inviting her to feature on the MAGFest 2016: Animation Panel with him. [30]
• She also first met Dave Capdevielle at MAGFest 2016. They became friends, after which Vivienne messaged Dave to ask if he would help out writing on her "hell show". Dave brought his friend, Raymond Hernandez, on board and they wrote the Hazbin Hotel pilot together. [31]
• Christopher Niosi, who met Vivienne in the School of Visual Arts (and was given special thanks in her thesis film, Son of 666 ), was the one who suggested Monica Franco for the role of Vaggie, before the pilot had started production, and before casting had even begun. [32]
• Medrano has also contradicted this by saying Alastor was created in middle school. [36]
• Additionally the characters Arackniss , Husk , Mimzy , and Crymini were created before the end of 2012, [37] with Arackniss being seen in an artwork from 2011. [38]
• The character of Angel Dust was created at the School of Visual Arts college on February 9, 2013. [39] [40]
• The character of Charlie was created during her time at the School of Visual Arts. [41]
• According to the "Clocktower Countdown to Premiere" livestream, Alastor and Lucifer are Medrano's favorite characters in Hazbin Hotel . [42]
• Additionally, the Helluva Boss episode, " MAMMON'S MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL MID-SEASON SPECIAL (ft Fizzarolli) ", aired a day after her thirty-first birthday.
• Vivziepop has an official Hazbin Hotel playlist , which contains songs that remind her of characters, scenes, and the show as a whole. [44]
• Vivziepop has previously cited her dream creative hires for the show as Nathan Lane , Tobin Bell , Kesha , Kacey Musgraves , Weird Al , and Mark Hamill . [45] [46]
• She is very particular about how her characters look and sound. [ citation needed ]
• She expressed a wish to have Weird Al voice a character on Hazbin Hotel , although she did not reveal who.

Alastor mounted deer head

• When asked if she could hang with any of the characters of Hazbin Hotel , she said she would hang with Charlie and Alastor, as Angel and Husk would be likely to make fun of her. [ citation needed ]
• She has unfinished and shelved projects such as the JayJay Returns Fan Animated Music Video, the pilot for her project, and SVA Thesis Film Timber, a musical short film entitled Allison , and a short film with the working title Classic . [ citation needed ]
• Vivziepop expressed her disappointment with the Five Nights at Freddy's series in a 2015 tweet, in which she stated that while she enjoyed the games and the story, she felt the series had moved on from being one of the most original horror games ever to "beating a dead horse bloody". [49]
• Vivienne prefers her characters (excluding the background characters) to have their own unique voice actor. This was one of the reasons given for her recasting the character of Millie from pilot to series in Helluva Boss . She was originally voiced by Erica Lindbeck , who also voiced Loona . [50]
• Subsequently, Vivienne later voiced the cat Poopsie St. Poodles in Too Loud creator Nico Colaleo's online series, Ollie and Scoops .
• Her Impsona also made a cameo in the ADDICT music video.
• One of Vivienne's nicknames (and a long-running inside-joke among the Helluva Boss crew), is "the Cashier", originated from her providing a bit-part voice for a nameless cashier in the episode " Murder Family " in Helluva Boss . [51]
• Vivienne revealed that she started creating the main characters of Zoophobia in elementary school, making Zoophobia a part of her childhood. [53]
• In 2021 Vivienne expressed her desire to return to the Zoophobia comic but in a physical form. [54] In 2023 Vivienne said on stream that she has wanted to explore it's characters again in animation and she wants it to be a comic one day, [55] but unlike the original webcomic, it would be a young adult series that's like an adventure with a much smaller cast. [56]
• In 2023 Vivienne stated that "aliens" along with Hell and folklore were a part of the added elements for the Zoophobia webcomic. [52] However, in the original webcomic it is said that despite the presence of animals, demons and folk creatures in the World, aliens do not actually exist. [57] [58]
• On stream Vivienne said that she adores crossovers and would love to have Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss crossovers one day, but doesn't know if it will ever be possible. [59]
• Vivienne tweeted that she has had the "Viv can't take criticism" reputation since she was 17 after she said she wasn't going to take feedback from the badwebcomicswiki for its page about her original Zoophobia webcomic. [60] [61]
• Vivienne's first ever hangover happened after the Hazbin Hotel pilot screening party, [62] which in " Queen Bee " there is a scene based on after Vivienne and Sam Miller left a bar from that time. [63]
• Vivziepop has stated that her favorite album of all time is Musgraves' "Pageant Material". [67]
• In 2023, Vivienne Medrano received a Streamy Creator Honor from Brandon Rogers for being an inspiration to him. [68]
• She also explains that she would always joke that she wouldn't fare very well in Hell, but would fare very well with Charlie. Additionally saying that if she was a sinner in this world, Medrano would want to go to the hotel because Charlie would actually be nice to her. [69]
• Vivziepop explained that she jokingly says that Hazbin Hotel is a "comic book show", which for herself has become an adopted catchphrase for the show, but the comic doesn't physically exist, and instead it exists in her head and has a very intense lore with mysteries, and twists and turns, and arcs for the characters, and big reveals and secret characters to come, and all these things that a traditional comic book would have. She continued by saying that when the writing team get into the writer's room and create the map for the season it's kind of her just info-dumping. [70]
• In the same tweet Medrano explains that she feels "Truth Seekers" is one of the most balanced episodes and where she took the most risk, and that it was the episode Brandon let her take the reigns and she felt really confident in it. [71]

Staff Artwork

External Links

• Official YouTube
• Original YouTube (inactive)
• Official Twitter
• Original Twitter (inactive)
• Official Instagram
• Official Threads (inactive)
• Official Bluesky (inactive)
• Official Patreon
• Official Tumblr (inactive)
• Official DeviantArt (inactive)
• Official FurAffinity (inactive)
• Official Facebook (inactive)
• Art Facebook (inactive)
• Official Newgrounds (inactive)
• Official Blogger (inactive)
• Vivienne Medrano on the Zoophobia Wiki
• Hazbin Hotel
• 2 Angel Dust
• 3 Lucifer Morningstar

• On-schedule delivery
• Compliance with the provided brief
• Chat with your helper
• Ongoing 24/7 support
• Real-time alerts
• Free revisions
• Free quality check
• Free title page
• Free bibliography
• Any citation style

Johan Wideroos

• Expository Essay
• Persuasive Essay
• Reflective Essay
• Argumentative Essay
• Admission Application/Essays
• Term Papers
• Essay Writing Service
• Research Proposal
• Research Papers
• Assignments
• Dissertation/Thesis proposal
• Research Paper Writer Service
• Pay For Essay Writer Help

Calculate the price

Minimum Price

Please, Write My Essay for Me!

Congratulations, now you are the wittiest student in your classroom, the one who knows the trick of successful and effortless studying. The magical spell sounds like this: "Write my essay for me!" To make that spell work, you just need to contact us and place your order.

If you are not sure that ordering an essay writing service is a good idea, then have no doubts - this is an absolutely natural desire of every aspiring student. Troubles with homework are something all learners have to experience. Do you think that the best high-achievers of your class pick the essays from some essay tree? - They have to struggle with tasks as well as you do. By the way, the chances are that they are already our customers - this is one of the most obvious reasons for them to look that happy.

Some students are also worried that hiring professional writers and editors is something like an academic crime. In reality, it is not. Just make sure that you use the received papers smartly and never write your name on them. Use them in the same manner that you use books, journals, and encyclopedias for your papers. They can serve as samples, sources of ideas, and guidelines.

So, you have a writing assignment and a request, "Please, write my essay for me." We have a team of authors and editors with profound skills and knowledge in all fields of study, who know how to conduct research, collect data, analyze information, and express it in a clear way. Let's do it!

Business Enquiries

RAMSHACKLE: The Thesis Film (Transcript)

• View history

(The film starts off with one of the three main characters Vinnie wearing pink heart-shaped glasses, a sun hat, and a pink and yellow fur coat)

VINNIE : Go Fish.

STONE : Vinnie we're playing poker.

VINNIE : I know what I'm doing!

SKIPP : Actually, I think we just won!

VINNIE : See!?

GANSTER 1 : How the hell I lose to a bunch of street rats!?

GANSTER 2 : They must be cheating!

VINNIE : Cheating!? Do we look like cheaters to you?

(CARD SOUND EFFECTS COMING OFF OF FUR COAT PLAYS)

(SHOTGUNS GLOCKED NOISE)

SKIPP : (COUGHS UP CARDS)

(The next scene show gunshots at the doors’s bar and Vinnie , Skipp and Stone running out)

VINNIE : And now all we gotta do is get out alive!

(Bullets shots miss directed towards them, after the Stone looks at Vinnie slightly peeved)

VINNIE : What!?

STONE : I’m planning the next scheme

VINNIE : Hey, you wanna survive on these streets you gotta be a little chaotic

SKIPP : Guys over there!

( Skipp points to transportation, it then pans toward a coach carriage)

VINNIE : See! be more like Skipp .

(They go behind the coach carriage to a mine cart)

SKIPP : No Stone, you're perfect the way you are!

STONE : Throw up.

♫  Come out and meet me where the sun never shines ♫

VINNIE : Hey that’s where we live!

♫  It smells like aged piss  and it’s ridden with crime ♫

SKIPP : Sure is!

♫  Gotta beg, steal, lie and cheat just make ends meet ♫

VINNIE : Oh my god were like Aladdin!

STONE ! (GROANS)

♫  Oh that’s just how it be on these ol’ ramshackle streets ♫

STONE : This is why I drink.

(Gunshots misses them)

VINNIE : Oh come on!

(It pans toward the Gangsters in a coach carriage)

GANGSTER 1 : Were gonna get you … PUNKS!!

VINNIE : New plan, I'm just gonna punch the bullets!

SKIPP : All I have is this gun.

( Skipp throws away the gun, the next scene shows stone with a lighter and his drink flaming)

STONE : Hey, this is why I drink.

VINNIE : Huh, not bad.

(Stone throws the flaming drink at the Gangsters ’s coach carriage, just for it to miss. It then cuts to the Gangsters )

GANGSTER 1 : Ha! Idiots.

GANGSTER 2 : (LAUGHS)

(It cuts to the outside of the coach carriage to exploding, it then cuts to Vinnie and Stone )

VINNIE : Ha! Idiots!

(UNINTELLIGIBLE TALKING FROM VINNIE, SKIPP AND STONE)

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Balance transfer cards
• Cash back cards
• Rewards cards
• Travel cards
• Online checking
• High-yield savings
• Money market
• Home equity loan
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Options pit
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing
• Newsletters

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

‘The Apprentice’ Trump Biopic Splits Critics: Reactions Range From ‘Pointless’ to ‘Provocative’ With a ‘Strong Thesis’

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

The Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” landed at Cannes on Monday, tracking the former president’s rise the former president in the New York real estate world, and critics and journalists had a lot to say. Some applauded the film for its strong performances, while others felt it was a lackluster flick that spoon-fed its audience old information about the former president.

“‘The Apprentice is woefully bad — and worse, pointless,” New York Times editor Karl Delossantos tweeted on X (formerly Twitter). “A melange of Wikipedia plot points mixed with Donald Trump sound bites we’ve heard a thousand times that feel forced in. SNL was a more incisive portrayal of Trump. A frankly embarrassing effort.”

THE APPRENTICE is woefully bad—and worse, pointless. A melange of Wikipedia plot points mixed with Donald Trump sound bites we’ve heard a thousand times that feel forced in. SNL was a more incisive portrayal of Trump. A frankly embarrassing effort. #Cannes pic.twitter.com/2KVRHXBEtv — Karl Delossantos @ Cannes (@karl_delo) May 20, 2024

That was one takeaway from the journalist community, while That Shelf film critic Jason Gorber had more positive words for the film, describing it as an “Origin story for the Orange one, the relationship between Master and Student revealed with a darkly comedic bent and Shakespearean tragic scope. Beautifully acted, terrific production design, a deep and provocative film that still manages to humanize.”

THE APPRENTICE – Origin story for the Orange one, the relationship between Master and Student revealed with a darkly comedic bent and Shakespearean tragic scope. Beautifully acted, terrific production design, a deep and provocative film that still manages to humanize #cannes2024 pic.twitter.com/3FX9aOUukE — Jason Gorber (@filmfest_ca) May 20, 2024

Film critic Brother Bro said “The Apprentice” provided more perspective on Trump’s background and personality.

“Really liked The Apprentice! Sebastian Stan ’s performance exceeded my expectations,” he wrote on X. “Left feeling like this was a truthful dive into the ethos that guides Trump and of corruption in general. Kinda spoon-feeds you, but it had a strong thesis and was well done.”

Really liked The Apprentice! Sebastian Stan’s performance exceeded my expectations. Left feeling like this was a truthful dive into the ethos that guides Trump and of corruption in general. Kinda spoon-feeds you, but it had a strong thesis and was well done pic.twitter.com/eDHzsYlrab — Brother Bro @Cannes (@withbrotherbro) May 20, 2024

“The Apprentice” was written by Gabriel Sherman and directed by Ali Abbasi. It takes a look into the the life and career of Donald Trump working as a real estate businessman in New York during the 1970s and the ’80s, supported by lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). The cast includes Stan, Strong, Maria Bakalova and Martin Donovan.

Check out more of the responses to the film below:

the apprentice reviewers saying jeremy strong gave an oscar worthy performance pic.twitter.com/8f1kt7mZo9 — jay (@kendallhosseini) May 20, 2024

If you are going to make a film like THE APPRENTICE during an election year it better be brave enough to dive into the deep end, this is not. Sebastian Stan does well to evade a caricature-esqe performance & gets better by the minute. Editing & sound-mixing are evidently rushed. pic.twitter.com/Ei7RRnhynX — yasmine | ياسمين (@filmwithyas) May 20, 2024

The Apprentice is just too shallow to be taken seriously but my man Jeremy Strong once again overdid the assignment. He’s like this hardworking kid who writes 20 page essays for a simple homework. #Cannes2024 pic.twitter.com/jna7WNHxSe — Öykü Sofuoğlu (@FerideMercury) May 20, 2024

A reminder, you don't have to see every movie or even talk about every movie. This is about "The Apprentice". — Classic McDavid (@henchman21) May 20, 2024

The Apprentice: just because you've cast Jeremy Strong doesn't mean you need to rip off the Succession score!!!! — hannah strong (@thethirdhan) May 20, 2024

jeremy strong getting acclaim for his performance in the apprentice pic.twitter.com/S9Uo1PURXk — vlo (@vlotoyou) May 20, 2024

I feel like "The Apprentice" is gonna run into the same commercial issue Oliver Stone's "W" did: you're making a movie about a guy for an audience of people who hate him, and expecting them to pay to spend time with them even though you're sick of the coverage of them. — David Leninhawk (@DavidLeninhawk) May 20, 2024

The Apprentice is like the 2016 Johnny Depp Funny or Die Trump thing but worse and 2 hrs long — Screen Slate (@ScreenSlate) May 20, 2024

The post ‘The Apprentice’ Trump Biopic Splits Critics: Reactions Range From ‘Pointless’ to ‘Provocative’ With a ‘Strong Thesis’ appeared first on TheWrap .

Recommended Stories

Trump trial live updates: defense rests without calling the former president to the stand.

Closing arguments are set to begin next week.

The 'vote Trump' spam that hit Bluesky in May came from decentralized rival Nostr

Decentralized social networks aren't immune to botnet-driven spam, as a recent spam attack on Bluesky demonstrates. Earlier this month, a flood of posts reading "remember to always vote Trump" showed up on Bluesky's network posted by accounts with random names and default avatars. The spam didn't originate on Bluesky, though.

There’s a real appetite for a fintech alternative to QuickBooks

The prospects for troubled banking-as-a-service (BaaS) startup Synapse went from bad to worse last week when a U.S. Trustee filed an emergency motion asking to convert the company’s debt reorganization Chapter 11 bankruptcy into a liquidation Chapter 7 due to “gross mismanagement” of its estate. There seems to be a real appetite for an alternative to QuickBooks, the legacy accounting alternative for SMBs, judging by the attention this story on Layer’s $2.3 million raise received. Its customers are those working with small and medium-sized businesses to offer accounting and bookkeeping features inside their own products.

Stock market today: Stocks steady as investors await Nvidia earnings

Investors biding their time for Nvidia results looked to retail earnings and Fedspeak for clues to the economy.

Pre-order Samsung’s first Copilot+ laptop and get a free 50-inch 4K TV

If you pre-order Samsung’s new AI-powered Galaxy Book4 Edge, you can get a 50-inch Samsung Crystal UHD TV as a bonus.

I'm a pro baker, and these are the best early Memorial Day kitchen deals — save up to 80% on Le Creuset, Vitamix and more

From Dutch ovens and blenders to knife sets and air fryers, scoop up these deals before they're toast.

UFC 302: Dustin Poirier faces a daunting task in his last best shot at a title belt

At 35, Poirier's bout against lightweight champion Islam Makhachev could potentially be the UFC veteran's final opportunity to be crowned undisputed champion.

Kristin Chenoweth relies on this secret drugstore find for her summery glow, and it's on sale for just $10

The No. 1 bestseller is also formulated to fade wrinkles, scars and stretch marks.

Wayfair Memorial Day sale 2024: Save up to 70% on outdoor furniture, grills, mattresses and more

Save big this holiday weekend on everything from patio furniture and grills to mattresses and cookware.

Cohen admits he stole from Trump Org. in trial testimony, ICC seeks Israel-Hamas arrest warrants and Caitlin Clark's injury scare

Get caught up on this morning’s news: Michael Cohen wraps up testimony, Caitlin Clark’s injury scare and more in today’s edition of The Yodel newsletter

'The Apprentice' Trump Biopic Splits Critics: Reactions Range From 'Pointless' to 'Provocative' With a 'Strong Thesis'

T he Donald Trump biopic "The Apprentice" landed at Cannes on Monday, tracking the former president's rise the former president in the New York real estate world, and critics and journalists had a lot to say. Some applauded the film for its strong performances, while others felt it was a lackluster flick that spoon-fed its audience old information about the former president.

"'The Apprentice is woefully bad -- and worse, pointless," New York Times editor Karl Delossantos tweeted on X (formerly Twitter). "A melange of Wikipedia plot points mixed with Donald Trump sound bites we've heard a thousand times that feel forced in. SNL was a more incisive portrayal of Trump. A frankly embarrassing effort."

That was one takeaway from the journalist community, while That Shelf film critic Jason Gorber had more positive words for the film, describing it as an "Origin story for the Orange one, the relationship between Master and Student revealed with a darkly comedic bent and Shakespearean tragic scope. Beautifully acted, terrific production design, a deep and provocative film that still manages to humanize."

Film critic Brother Bro said "The Apprentice" provided more perspective on Trump's background and personality.

"Really liked The Apprentice! Sebastian Stan's performance exceeded my expectations," he wrote on X. "Left feeling like this was a truthful dive into the ethos that guides Trump and of corruption in general. Kinda spoon-feeds you, but it had a strong thesis and was well done."

"The Apprentice" was written by Gabriel Sherman and directed by Ali Abbasi. It takes a look into the the life and career of Donald Trump working as a real estate businessman in New York during the 1970s and the '80s, supported by lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). The cast includes Stan, Strong, Maria Bakalova and Martin Donovan.

Check out more of the responses to the film below:

The post 'The Apprentice' Trump Biopic Splits Critics: Reactions Range From 'Pointless' to 'Provocative' With a 'Strong Thesis' appeared first on TheWrap .