At the splashy Kennedy Center premiere for Melania, the Amazon MGM documentary opening this weekend, the movie’s director, Brett Ratner, and First Lady Melania Trump defended the cost of the project, reportedly $40 million to make and another $35 to market.
“I think it’s silly because there’s a feature film and three episodes,” Ratner told Deadline. “An almost two hour feature film and three more episodes. We spent more money on music in this than I did on Rush Hour. I eman, top of the line, three best cinematographers in the world, at the highest level. Eighty people on the first day of shooting in my crew. That’s not unheard of in a documentary. You put the money on the screen.”
The first lady, too, pointed to a theatrical run and then the episodes airing on Amazon Prime.
“We achieved what we wanted to achieve for cinematic viewing, in the theaters, and then we have a doc series coming out,” the first lady told Deadline. “And so we are very pleased with it. The Amazon team was so fantastic. So I am very proud of the motion picture.”
Opening in 1,500 screens this weekend, The cost of the project is many multiples of a traditional documentary, given the challenge that such projects have to break even at the box office and even after streaming runs. That has led to criticism that Amazon was ponying up such a huge some as a way to ingratiate the company with the Trumps. Jimmy Kimmel, one of the president’s nemeses, quipped earlier this week that it was a “$75 million bribe.”
Brett Ratner and producer Marc Beckman attend Amazon MGM’s “Melania” World Premiere at the Kennedy Center (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
Amazon’s marketing spend was apparent at the Kennedy Center. At the premiere, the name MELANIA appeared in huge letters on the red carpet (which was actually black) and in giant posters throughout the center.
The president himself scolded a New York Times reporter for asking about the cost and whether Amazon was seeking to get in his good graces.
Asked by a reporter what would be her measurement of success for the project, the first lady said that “for myself, it’s already successful, what we did, and it will speak for itself.”
Answering the same question from the reporter, Ratner had a similar answer. “To me, it’s already a success. Just the fact that Amazon is great to distribute this theatrically. It is a different world today. When I was a kid, all they cared about was box office, how much money is this movie gonna make? And now, it’s like, ‘I’ve already succeeded. I’ve grown up a little bit.”
The documentary is centered on the 20 days leading up to Trump’s inauguration for a second term last January. There was no advanced screening for critics, and press was not allowed into the Opera House showing.
On stage inside the Opera House, the first lady, whp is a producer on the project, told the audience that “some have called this a documentary. It is not. It is a creative experience that offers perspectives, insights and moments.”
The guest list for the event included a gallery of Trump administration figures, Republican lawmakers and some entertainment celebrities, including Nicki Minaj and Dr. Phil, as well as news figures including Maria Bartiromo, per a pool report. There was a heavy presence of cabinet secretaries, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Another guest, House Speaker Mike Johnson, told reporters, “Amazon is a business, and they are in the business to make money, and I think they will make money on this film. But it also has an inestimable value for its cultural impact. To have a documentary of a first lady, sort of a behind the scenes portrayal, I think there’s great value to that, and I think it transcends dollar figures. I think Amazon has done a good thing for the culture.”
He added, “I think the American people, many of them, don’t know what a gem they have in this first lady, and I hope this film will help explain that.”
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that he’s worked with the first lady on his agenda for children’s health care and foster care. “She’s a multi dimensional character, not the least, not close to the caricature that appears in the press.”
The Trumps spent more than 30 minutes on the “black” carpet, as the Kennedy Center, which Trump took over as chairman, has become a gathering place for his administration, as he hosted the Kennedy Center Honors last month. One elite, dismissed by Trump as the woke left, has replaced by another elite, from the MAGA right.
At one point on the carpet, the president told reporters, “This is like the good old days when the Academy Awards used to get ratings. They don’t get ratings anymore.”
The board of the Kennedy Center added Trump’s name to the cultural institution in December, a move that has been followed by artist cancellations in protest. A number of RFK Jr.’s family members condemned the move — Congress designated it the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1964. He has stayed out of the fray.
“The center was launched after my uncle’s death because of his commitment to the arts, to making America a cultural center,” Kennedy told Deadline. “President Trump has that same ambition. He’s spending a lot of time thinking about it. So for me, you know, I have bigger fish to fry. If I can save one kid, it’s more important.”
The first to walk the carpet was Alina Habba, the president’s former personal lawyer whose appointment as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey was turned back by the courts. Her all-black outfit gelled with the MELANIA B7W branding, but she told reporters that she also purposely wore one of the first lady’s fashion mainstays. “I got my stilettos out for this,” she said.