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, who 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.”
More to come.
