{"id":449194,"date":"2026-01-31T08:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T08:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/449194\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T08:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T08:53:10","slug":"melania-director-brett-ratner-shades-her-grasp-of-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/449194\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Melania\u2019 Director Brett Ratner Shades Her Grasp of English"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brett Ratner had a curious response when he was asked about whether he had difficulty understanding the first lady\u2019s English while filming her documentary, Melania. <\/p>\n

Ratner told The Hollywood Reporter<\/a> that it was no trouble at all: \u201cI understand broken English. I\u2019ve made movies with Chris Tucker.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"ActorRatner directed Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in all three “Rush Hour” movies, and is expected to follow up with a fourth. Alberto E. Rodriguez\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Tucker played one-half of the Rush Hour buddy comedy duo with Jackie Chan. Both stars are expected to reprise their roles in the franchise\u2019s next installment, the Trump-sanctioned Rush Hour 4<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Daily Beast has reached out to Tucker for comment. <\/p>\n

His reference to Tucker and Rush Hour is an interesting one, considering that Chan\u2019s English is a recurring punchline in the movie series.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisChris Tucker in \u201cRush Hour.\u201d YouTube <\/p>\n

Ratner\u2019s comments to the publication come on the first day of critical reviews of Melania, which have been scathing<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Critics have called the film \u201cpure, endless hell,\u201d \u201cchillingly vain,\u201d and \u201cexhaustingly boring.\u201d The film\u2019s marketing\u2014driven by a massive $35 million promotional push<\/a>\u2014has been marred by severe vandalism<\/a>. Its Letterboxd page was ruthlessly review-bombed<\/a>. But the first lady told the outlet via email on Friday, \u201cI take pride in every detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA view of a defaced bus stop advertisement for the new documentary film about First Lady Melania Trump at Exposition Park in Los Angeles. Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images <\/p>\n

The previously blacklisted director added, \u201cIt was probably the hardest film I ever made. I was there from the moment she woke up to the moment she went to bed. And it was all improv. We couldn\u2019t stop anything\u2014we couldn\u2019t say, \u2018Let\u2019s do that again.\u2019 It was all happening in real time. I\u2019m used to yelling \u2018Cut,\u2019 but there was no cut.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Melania Trump\u2019s language barrier wasn\u2019t part of that \u201chard\u201d process, Ratner himself has been cited as the reason others who worked on the movie had a less-than-pleasant experience. Crew members told Rolling Stone that making the film was \u201cchaotic,\u201d and that Ratner\u2014previously accused of inappropriate behavior by several women\u2014was \u201cslimy.\u201d He has denied all wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\"NEWMelania Trump never asked Brett Ratner about the accusations that derailed his Hollywood career, he said. Spencer Platt\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Ratner told THR that the first lady never asked him about his \u201ccontroversial\u201d reputation, but he offered an explanation anyway. \u201cI said to her, \u2018I\u2019m a controversial figure. And if we do this film, we\u2019re going to be tied together for the rest of our lives.\u2019 And she had no issue with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obsessed with pop culture and entertainment? Follow us on Substack<\/a> and YouTube<\/a> for even more coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brett Ratner had a curious response when he was asked about whether he had difficulty understanding the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134,52955],"class_list":["post-449194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-melania-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}