Johnny Depp stars in Donald Trump spoof film

Johnny Depp is known as a versatile character actor, and has played a pirate, a mad hatter and a knife-wielding barber. For his latest role, he has adopted a blonde comb-over and a distinctly recognisable Queens accent.

The new spoof film of Donald Trump, based on his book “Trump: The Art of The Deal”, has begun streaming on the website Funny Or Die, with an all-star cast including Mr Depp, Jack McBrayer, Patton Oswald, Alfred Molina, Michaela Watkins as Ivana Tramp and Stephen Merchant. It is set in 1980s New York, when the business mogul was breaking hearts, making deals and zooming around New York on his helicopter.

Timing of the 50-minute film has been impeccable – the Republican won the New Hampshire Primary on Tuesday night alongside Democrat Bernie Sanders. The real Mr Trump had swaggered onto the stage – “wow, wow, wow – so beautiful” – quickly regaining his confidence after losing out in the Iowa caucus last week.

Director Ron Howard said at the start of the feature that Mr Trump supposedly had “vowed never to air his masterpiece” because its showing in the 1980s was preempted by a Monday night football game.

Mr Howard joked that the video disappeared for decades, until last summer he wrestled the video tape from a “woman named Ginny”.

The film, which had been kept secret for months, covers Mr Trump’s desperate quest to buy the Taj Mahal Casino from the Hilton family and makes fun of several of the book’s chapters like “The Art of Intimidating Rent-Controlled Tenants” and “The Art of Defeating Totally Bogus Lawsuits”.

“I love minorities, they are exotic, they are sensual, especially the Asians,” Mr Depp said in the film to former New York mayor Ed Koch, played by Harry Winkler.

“New York should be a place where everyone, no matter their race, religion, creed, colour, can be priced out of their own neighborhood,” he said.

“Trump: The Art of the Deal” was first published in 1987 as a part memoir and part business tip book. It was a New York Times bestseller for months.