Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Melania Trump Documentary Coming from Jeff Bezos’s Amazon Prime, Directed by Curtailed Filmmaker, Musk Pal Brett Ratner

Now we know why Jeff Bezos has been so busy supporting Donald Trump.

Bezos has licensed a documentary about Melania Trump for Amazon Prime.

The director is previously cancelled director Brett Ratner.

According to a statement from Amazon, the film will be released in the second part of 2025.

At first, none of this announcement seems possible — that Bezos would have gone so around the bend, or that Ratner would be the director chosen by the Trumps. Or that Ratner would throw in with the Trumps himself.

The producer is Fernando Sulichin through his New Element Media. The filming, they say, began in September. That would explain a little of why of we’re suddenly seeing more of Melania. Cameras are rolling.

Sulicihin’s co producer is Melania herself, which means this is authorized and editorially controlled by the Trumps.

The return of Ratner is problematic. He was one of the first people in Hollywood whose career was curtailed by the MeToo movement in 2017 after six women including actress Natasha Henstridge accused him of sexual misconduct. Ratner — who directed the wildly successful — “Rush Hour” movies –denied all accusations, but along with his association with Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons Ratner has not worked since then.

Ratner reportedly immigrated to Israel last year, although he still lives in Hollywood. Simmons, also facing allegations and lawsuits, has also left the country, for Bali. He’s occasionally seen in the US but keeps an extremely low profile.

Ratner is also an old friend of Elon Musk. See his Instagram post below, posted 14 weeks ago, which would line up with the start of production on the Melania doc.

Sulichin is also an odd producer, but maybe it all makes sense. There’s a Vladimir Putin connection. He produced a  four part documentary with Oliver Stone in 2017 called “The Putin Interviews.” He also produced Sean Penn’s documentary about drug lord El Chapo.

Keep refreshing…

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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