"It's not a Donald Trump film! He comes into the movie once in a while, but this is all about Melania. It's not political," producer Marc Beckman claimed.
Prince’s estate allegedly stopped his music from being included in
Melania, a controversial documentary about
Melania Trump’s life in the weeks leading up to President
Donald Trump's second inauguration in January 2025.
Producer Marc Beckman, who has also served as the first lady's longtime senior advisor, gave insight into the movie's music choices in
an interview with Variety published on Monday, Feb. 23. He claimed the Prince Estate denied the rights to one of the late artist's songs because he “would never want his song associated with Donald Trump.”
PEOPLE reached out to the Prince Estate for comment.
The producer also claimed that
Guns N’ Roses and
Grace Jones declined the rights to their music.
The Beckman further said there were some surprising artists who were enthused to be included in the movie. “Some of the artists you would never think would say yes jumped on it right away. I was like, ‘Wow, I love this person even more now,' " he shared.
Beckman declined to name those musicians, saying that some of them "are afraid that because their fan base is so liberal, progressive, that they would lose their fans."
A few musicians have expressed their dissatisfaction for being featured in the
Brett Ratner-directed documentary.
Jonny Greenwood, lead guitarist for
Radiohead and film composer, and director
Paul Thomas Anderson, previously shared a
joint statement to Variety requesting that a segment of the
Phantom Thread score
be removed from the documentary.
“It has come to our attention that a piece of music from
Phantom Thread has been used in the Melania documentary,” read the pair's statement. "While Jonny Greenwood does not own the copyright in the score, Universal failed to consult Jonny on this third-party use, which is a breach of his composer agreement. As a result, Jonny and Paul Thomas Anderson have asked for it to be removed from the documentary."
Beckman responded to their statement in the interview, saying, “It’s funny — Radiohead is one of my all-time favorite bands. For them to have come out publicly and distanced themselves, I think that’s just part of the unfortunate time we’re living in.”
“We went out and created a nice film that doesn’t get into any kind of political policy or anything like that. The music at that moment is so perfect, honestly, I was so thrilled to be able to use it,” he added.
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“We spent top dollars for all that music, and we’re thrilled to have that song included in the film,” Beckman said.
Melania earned
$7.04 million at the opening weekend box office upon its theatrical release on Jan. 30.
The movie was backed by a $40 million deal with Amazon MGM Studios and a $35 million marketing campaign. It currently has an 11% rating from critics on
Rotten Tomatoes, up just slightly from
its 8% rating the week of its release.
