End Citizens United (ECU) President Tiffany Muller issued the following statement on news that Melania Trump is set to earn millions of dollars from Amazon for a documentary:
“This is what oligarchy looks like––one of the richest men in the world, who already gave $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, is now funneling millions more directly to the Trumps’ pockets to buy favors and secure corporate-friendly policies. It’s corruption that’s dressed up as entertainment. This is about gaining access and influence, not filmmaking.”
Puck: Melania Trump Documentary Scores Massive Amazon Payday
Matthew Belloni
1/7/25
You’re not alone in raising both eyebrows at Sunday’s news that Amazon will release a Melania Trump documentary directed by Brett Ratner, the Rush Hour filmmaker who has not made a Hollywood movie since 2018, when he was accused of sexual malfeasance by several women. (He’s denied the claims.) Of course, that this vanity documentary will air on a platform whose founder, Jeff Bezos, recently dined at Mar-A-Lago and is actively using his media properties to suck up to Melania’s husband, makes this whole thing even more ridiculous.
I know it’s 2025, nothing matters anymore, and even The Walt Disney Co. is kissing Donald Trump’s ring. But I’ve also learned that Amazon is paying a cool $40 million to license the film, per three sources familiar with the deal. That price includes the Ratner documentary, which will get a small theatrical release and then appear on Prime Video, plus a previously undisclosed two-to-three-episode follow-up docuseries on the first lady. Melania will participate in both projects. (Amazon declined to comment.)
That’s quite a payday for Mrs. Trump, who is serving as an executive producer alongside Argentine producer Fernando Sulichin, who has worked with Oliver Stone on several projects, including Stone’s The Putin Interviews, which featured several sit-downs with Vladimir Putin. Music stars and big public figures can often generate eight-figure fees for participatory documentaries. And indeed, I’m told both Disney and Paramount bid for streaming rights to the Melania project. But Amazon outbid them both (neither Netflix nor Apple bid), and is paying the outsize fee for a limited license, not ownership. It’s unclear how much the first lady is personally being paid to participate and “produce” this project while her husband is in office, but I’m betting it’s a big chunk of that $40 million.
What’s still a mystery is how Ratner got involved. He came with the project, potential buyers were told, though he was a relatively recent addition to the package. What’s pretty certain is that neither Amazon Studios head Jen Salke nor pretty much any top studio head would have selected Ratner for any documentary project, much less this one. Other than popping up at Cannes, Ratner has mostly been out of the public eye since the #MeToo movement swept him out of Hollywood. But he maintains a bunch of ties to Trumpworld figures. Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary under Trump I, was in business with Ratner on RatPac-Dune Entertainment until Mnuchin somewhat controversially sold his stake. Will the Melania project chart a course for Brett to return to Hollywood?
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