The Amazon Studios documentary Melania, chronicling Melania Trump’s return to the White House as First Lady, has faced numerous controversies, ranging from its hefty price tag to disputes about how to judge its box office performance. Now, one of Melania‘s producers is revealing that the film was divisive within the music industry as well, with some artists refusing to allow their music to appear in it.
Movie producer says Grace Jones and Prince’s estate turned down ‘Melania’ over political concerns
Marc Beckman, an advisor to the first lady and a producer of her documentary, told Variety that at least two requests to use music in the movie were rejected.
“There was a song that we wanted to use from Grace Jones; obviously, also a tremendous amount of respect for her,” Beckman told the outlet. “She apparently couldn’t get over the political hurdle, notwithstanding the fact that the film is not a political film.” Beckman lamented Jones’ decision, saying, “It’s disappointing when people put politics so far ahead, and that happened a little bit with the film, for sure.”
The estate of the late icon Prince, which previously sold the rights to the music legend’s songs but still has a say over licensing requests, objected to using one of his songs in the movie.
“We were ready to go, and this lawyer that manages the estate was like, ‘Prince would never want his song associated with Donald Trump,’” Beckman said. The Prince estate was not moved by Beckman’s pleas that “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.’” Beckman labeled the Prince estate’s rejection as “so ridiculous.”
Other artists speak out against their music’s inclusion in ‘Melania‘
While Jones and the Prince estate refused to have their music used in Melania, the movie features songs by the late icons Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin, as well as the band Tears for Fears. The band Guns N’ Roses was divided on using one of its songs in the movie, ultimately leading to the song not being included. Beckman described the stances of the band’s members concerning using the group’s song in Melania, saying “one of the guys — I don’t want to name, it’s not fair —said, ‘You got it. Go.’ And the other one was basically like, ‘There’s just no way.’” Still other artists whose music features in Melania now dispute granting permission to use their songs. Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood and director Paul Thomas Anderson have objected to Melania reusing part of a score Greenwood composed for Anderson’s film Phantom Thread. Beckman insists that he properly licensed the Focus Gramercy Film Music and says accusations that he used the music improperly are “ridiculous” and “a blatant lie.” Beckman also claimed to have gotten permission to use the Rolling Stones song “Gimme Shelter,” saying of the band’s frontman, “Mick Jagger was actually involved. He gave us his blessing, and we were thrilled about that one.”
The Guardian reported that the Rolling Stones have said they were not involved in the licensing of the song by the company that owns the rights to “Gimme Shelter,” while a source close to Jagger questions whether the singer would have cooperated with the production of the movie.
Melania and Donald Trump face various controversies over film and music
The documentary has been the source of other controversies as well. Amazon paid $75 million to purchase and market the film, an enormously high price for any documentary and especially one that ended up performing poorly at the box office. Many viewed the expenditure as an attempt by Amazon and its founder, Jeff Bezos, to curry favor with the Trump administration, especially in light of other seemingly pro-Trump moves made by Bezos through his companies, including The Washington Post. Furthermore, Melania was pulled from distribution in South Africa, a response to controversial policies of the Trump administration, which include baseless claims that the majority-Black South African government is violently racist against white people. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has had numerous controversies concerning allegations that he and his campaigns have used artists’ music without authorization. Trump and the estate of Isaac Hayes recently settled a multi-million dollar lawsuit over the use of a song co-written by Hayes by the Trump campaign after a years-long dispute.
Now, Mrs. Trump and her film are facing similar accusations of using music without permission. While a producer on the film disputes those allegations, he has confirmed that some artists rejected their music being associated with Melania or the Trump administration.
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