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Melania Trump’s self-titled documentary is getting the celebrity-presidential treatment, it seems.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Melania,” a film helmed by exiled Hollywood director Brett Ratner that chronicles the first lady’s preparation to return to the White House alongside her husband, will get a red carpet premiere at Washington’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—or, rather, the newly named Trump-Kennedy Center.
That’s the latest addition to an ongoing list of questionable moves surrounding the cinematic fluff piece.
When Amazon MGM Studios purchased the rights to the documentary in January 2025, critics were quick to call the deal a $40 million bribe from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has spent the past year trying to worm his way back into President Donald Trump’s good graces.
Related | Washington Post loses staff, readers, and money as Bezos bends to Trump
As for Melania, looking busy in front of a camera is great publicity for the serially absent first lady.
Ratner is positioning himself for a big move off of Hollywood’s blacklist. During the height of the “Me Too” movement, the “Rush Hour” director faced multiple accusations of sexual assault from various actresses. He has denied all of the claims.
Six women came forward in 2017, including actress Olivia Munn, accusing him of doing things like masturbating in front of them or forcing oral sex.
The disgraced director appeared in the Jeffrey Epstein files released on Friday. Ratner is seen smiling ear to ear in an undated photo with Jean-Luc Brunel, the late French modeling agent and longtime Epstein associate.
Brunel died by suicide in a Paris jail cell in 2022 while facing charges for supplying minors to accused sex trafficker Epstein and for allegedly raping a minor.
Ratner had not publicly commented on the Epstein-linked photo as of Tuesday afternoon.
Despite Ratner’s notoriety, the president has been happy to ignore the director’s questionable past.
Donald Trump has gone as far to use his sway on billionaire Larry Ellison’s Paramount Skydance—who will soon take over the U.S. buyout of TikTok—to get Ratner a movie deal for a “Rush Hour 4.”
As for the upcoming premiere, it remains to be seen if Trump’s name will still be plastered on the Kennedy Center when the film is released on Jan. 30, 2026.
Related | ‘Melania’ documentary trailer prompts some serious side-eye
After all, the administration is already facing a lawsuit from House Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Kennedy Center board member who said the vote to rename the center was not unanimous and dissenters were silenced.
But, hey, a “documentary” soon to stream on Amazon Prime is one hell of a Christmas present for Ratner and the attention-loving Trump family.
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Alix Breeden
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