LOS ANGELES — Incoming first lady Melania Trump will be the subject of a new documentary directed by Brett Ratner and distributed by Amazon Prime Video. The streaming arm of the tech giant got exclusive licensing rights for a streaming and theatrical release later this year, the company said Sunday.
Filming is already underway on the documentary. 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 late last year. Her husband takes office on Jan. 20.
The film is the latest connection between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump. The company in December announced plans to donate $1 million to the President-elect’s inauguration fund, and said that it would also stream Trump’s inauguration on its Prime Video service, a separate in-kind donation worth another $1 million.
The two men had been at odds in the past. During his first term, Trump criticized Amazon and railed against the political coverage at The Washington Post, which Bezos owns. But he’s struck a more conciliatory tone recently as Amazon and other tech companies seek to improve their relationship with the incoming president.
In December, Bezos expressed some excitement about potential regulatory cutbacks in the coming years and said he was “optimistic” about Trump’s second term.
Bezos in October did not allow the Post to endorse a presidential candidate, a move that led to tens of thousands of people canceling their subscriptions and to protests from journalists with a deep history at the newspaper. This weekend, a cartoonist quit her job after an editor rejected her sketch of the newspaper’s owner and other media executives bowing before the president-elect.
The film also marks the first project that Ratner has directed since he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, including actor Olivia Munn, in the early days of the #MeToo reckoning in November 2017. Ratner, whose lawyer denied the allegations, directed the “Rush Hour” film series, “Red Dragon” and ’’X-Men: The Last Stand.”
Fernando Sulichin, an Argentine filmmaker, is executive producing the film, which began shooting in December.
Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s third wife, has been an enigmatic figure since her husband announced he was running in the 2016 election. She had sought to maintain her privacy even as she served as first lady, focusing on raising their son, Barron, and promoting her “Be Best” initiative to support the “social, emotional, and physical health of children.”
While she appeared at her husband’s campaign launch event for 2024 and attended the closing night of the Republican National Convention this summer, she has otherwise stayed off the campaign trail, though the demands of again being first lady may dictate a higher public profile after Inauguration Day.
