Monochrome catering was all the rage at the VIP screening on Saturday for Ratner’s officially sanctioned $75m feature-length documentary about the First Lady. Have the photos whetted your appetite?
This week sees the release of Melania, Amazon’s official feature-length documentary about Melania Trump. Melania was directed by Brett Ratner, and has a reported $40m production budget. And, obviously, you’re probably not going to watch it.
Of course you’re not. Coming days after the killing of Alex Pretti by a US Border Patrol agent, an authorised vanity project about the current wife of a globally unpopular political leader – and directed by a man accused of sexual assault by multiple women, and whose production and release carried the smell of institutionalised media timidity – seems like just about the least appealing prospect ever. But, hey, any excuse for a party, right?
On Saturday, a special screening of Melania was organised in the White House, in a makeshift cinema that had to be erected due to the ongoing construction of the White House ballroom. It was attended by what the Hollywood Reporter describes as “70 assorted VIPs”, including Amazon’s Andy Jassy, Apple’s Tim Cook, Queen Rania of Jordan and Mike Tyson. Amazon has thrown a $35m marketing budget at Melania, some of which could be seen at Saturday’s screening. If the images from the event are any indication, there should be quite a lot of it left over.
