Melania: first trailer released for Amazon’s documentary on the first lady

Amazon has released the first trailer for next year’s documentary on Melania Trump.The film will follow the first lady in the 20 days before the 2025 inauguration and has “unprecedented access” with promises of “exclusive footage capturing critical meetings, private conversations, and never-before-seen environments”.“Witness history in the making” is the tagline.It’s also a comeback vehicle for disgraced director Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual misconduct by a number of women back in 2017. The film-maker moved to Israel in 2023 and called himself a “proud Zionist” on Instagram at the time. He is known to be a close friend of Benjamin Netanyahu.The trailer features Donald Trump as Melania assists him on camera. “My proudest legacy will be that of peacemaker,” he says before she adds “peacemaker and unifier”.“Everyone wants to know, so here it is,” says Melania later in the footage.“The 20 days of my life, preceding the US presidential inauguration, constitutes a rare and defining moment – one that warrants meticulous care, integrity, and uncompromising craftsmanship,” she said to Fox News, where the trailer was first exclusively shared. “I am proud to share this very specific moment of my life – 20 days of intense transition and planning – with moviegoers and fans across the globe.”Amazon reportedly spent $40m for the rights to the documentary, which the first lady originally conceived of in November 2024, and will also release a three-part docuseries on showing her life travelling between New York, Washington DC and Palm Beach.Ratner is also set to bring back his Rush Hour franchise after Trump reportedly intervened in order to get the fourth film financed. The film will be distributed by Paramount, a company recently bought by Skydance and backed by Larry Ellison, a friend of the president.In a bombshell exposé in the Los Angeles Times, six women including actors Natasha Henstridge and Olivia Munn, accused Ratner of sexual misconduct. Henstridge claimed he forced her to perform oral sex on him while Munn alleged that he masturbated in front of her in his trailer on the set of After the Sunset. Ratner denied the allegations.Melania will be released in cinemas on 30 January.