“Are you coming in?”
“No, are you sure?”
In the lobby of the Trump Kennedy Center on Thursday afternoon, reporters were whispering to each other about which reporters would be allowed into a screening of Melania Trump’s documentary “Melania.”
In the hours before the film’s showing (press check-in begins at 2 p.m. for the 6 p.m. carpet), there was some optimism among veteran reporters accustomed to slipping into Trump World that they would be able to network and find their seats. But by 6:30 p.m., when administration officials began walking the carpet, it became clear that most mainstream news organizations would be blocked from viewing the Amazon MGM Studios film.
Reporters from dozens of news organizations on the carpet, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press and Vanity Fair, were not given tickets to the invitation-only screening at the Opera House, located one floor above the carpet. The only members of the press on the carpet allowed into the screening (other than those who had been invited separately) were One America News anchor Dan Ball and his wife, far-right news channel producer Peyton Drew.
“I feel like I’m overdressed,” Drew, who wore a sparkly floor-length ballgown on the press line, told her husband before the talent arrived. “But,” she quickly reassured herself, “we are participants.”
The film’s premiere was attended by director Brett Ratner and producer Mark Beckman, as well as members of the Trump administration, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth, Lee Zeldin, and Mike Johnson. On several occasions, when government officials walked toward reporters, Ball encouraged them to ignore the “fake news” and come directly to him. At one point, after finishing an interview with former Trump aide Alina Hubba, he called the rest of the reporters on the carpet “mongrels” and they both laughed.
However, while First Lady Melania posed for photos in a black Dolce & Gabbana skirt suit, President Trump took a surprising amount of time to answer questions from mainstream media. Reporters from the New York Times and Reuters said they asked Trump a number of questions Friday morning, including the progress on the government funding deal and when he plans to choose a successor to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
The film was released on Friday, January 30 against a backdrop of political unrest, with ICE raids in Minneapolis and other parts of the country adding to the backlash against the administration’s glitzy White House screening earlier this week (attended by Apple CEO Tim Cook) and tonight’s premiere.
When asked about the exorbitant amount of money Amazon spent on the film, which Amazon MGM reportedly paid $40 million for the rights to the film and another $35 million for marketing, President Trump said he was “not involved in that.”
“This is something I did with my wife,” he said, adding that he thought the film was “very important” and a “big deal.”
Despite the staggering amount of money spent on the documentary, it is expected to gross only $3 million to $5 million this weekend. The lack of advance ticket sales has become an online meme, with screenshots of empty theaters on ticketing sites such as Fandango circulating on social media, but these can only be verified on a case-by-case basis.
But producer Beckman said the reports he received, or “actual numbers,” were being tracked “very positively.”
The film also marks Ratner’s return to directing after a hiatus following sexual misconduct allegations in 2017. Ahead of the premiere, Rolling Stone magazine reported that some staffers requested not to be officially credited in the film, with one citing “wariness” about the administration of President Donald Trump after his second term.
“I can understand liberals working on this movie and not wanting to get credit, but wanting to provide for their families,” Ratner told Variety. “I don’t blame anyone for that,” he continued, noting that all “key staff” would be credited, but that’s because The Doctor filmed in multiple locations, including Washington, D.C. NEW YORK AND FLORIDA — Perhaps day or temporary workers have decided to distance themselves from the project.
Members of the administration seemed generally in high spirits as they headed to the pre-screening reception. “I’m so happy to be here!” Hegseth, who attended with his wife, shouted to reporters. Some expressed how excited the nation was to see the “real Melania.”
President Kennedy said he was there to support Melania Trump because she was one of his biggest supporters in his administration on his policy issues, including child health, food regulation and foster care.
“I think she’s been portrayed as a one-dimensional person,” he said. “But that’s not who she is.”
