LOS ANGELES (AP) — New first lady Melania Trump will be the subject of a modern documentary directed by Brett Ratner and distributed by Amazon Prime Video. The streaming arm of the technology giant has received the exclusive licensing rights for a streaming and cinema release later this year, the company announced on Sunday.
Filming for the documentary is already underway. The company said in a statement that the film will give viewers an “unprecedented behind-the-scenes look” at Melania Trump and also promised a “truly unique story.”
The former and now future First Lady also released a self-titled memoir overdue last year. Her husband takes office on January 20th.
The film represents the latest connection between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump. The company announced plans in December to donate $1 million to the president-elect’s inauguration fund and said it would also show Trump’s inauguration on its Prime streaming video service, a separate in-kind donation worth another million US dollars.
The two men had been at odds in the past. During his first term, Trump criticized Amazon and railed against political reporting at the Washington Post, which Bezos owns. Lately, however, he has struck a more conciliatory tone as Amazon and other tech companies seek to mend their relationships with the modern president.
In December, Bezos expressed excitement about possible regulatory cuts in the coming years and said he was “optimistic” about Trump’s second term.
Bezos did not allow the Post to endorse a presidential candidate in October, leading tens of thousands of people to cancel their subscriptions and journalists with extensive experience at the paper to protest. This weekend, a cartoonist quit her job after an editor rejected her sketch in which the newspaper owner and other media executives bowed to the president-elect.
The film is also the first project Ratner has directed since he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, including actress Olivia Munn, in the early days of the #MeToo reckoning in November 2017. It was directed by Ratner, whose lawyer denied the allegations “Rush Hour” film series, “Red Dragon” and “X-Men: The Last Stand”.
Fernando Sulichin, an Argentine filmmaker, is an executive producer of the film, which began filming in December.
Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s third wife, has been an enigmatic figure since her husband announced his candidacy for the 2016 election. Even as first lady, she had tried to maintain her privacy, focusing on raising her son Barron and promoting her “Be Best” initiative to promote the “social, emotional and physical health of children.”
While she appeared at her husband’s 2024 campaign launch event and attended the closing night of the Republican National Convention this summer, she has otherwise stayed away from the campaign, even though the demands of being first lady again may require greater public exposure after Inauguration Day.
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This story has been updated to correct the director’s first name in the headline.
