Reaction to Amazon MGM's Melania documentary has certainly been divisive – it currently holds a critics’ rating of 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, but an audience rating of 98% – and that sense of polarisation was also evident during production, when producers were sourcing music for the film.
After Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood claimed that he wasn’t consulted about the documentary’s use of a portion of his score from Phantom Thread, the 2017 movie that was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Melania producer Marc Beckman – who’s worked with Melania Trump for more than two decades – has been speaking to Variety and giving his account of what happened both in that case, and those of several other artists.
Beckman insists that he and the rest of the Melania crew created “a nice film that doesn’t get into any kind of political policy or anything like that,” but accepts that others might take a different view. He’s satisfied, though, that all the music rights issues were handled correctly.
Discussing the Jonny Greenwood/Phantom Thread issue, he says: “We work with the best lawyers; this is Melania Trump. We spent top dollars for all that music, and we’re thrilled to have that song included in the film. If they’re trying to distance themselves from us, for political reasons, that’s just unfortunate. But, honestly, I’ll still remain a fan and listen to [Radiohead’s] music every single day.”
Beckman says that Trump herself chose all the music for the film, but admits that not every request for usage was accommodated.
“For example, the guys from Guns N’ Roses split down the middle politically,” he claims. “There was a beautiful song we wanted to use, and 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.’ We needed everybody’s approval to get it in the film.”
Grace Jones was another artist who refused permission for her music to be used – “She apparently couldn’t get over the political hurdle, notwithstanding the fact that the film is not a political film,” says Beckman – and then there was the music from Prince’s catalogue.
The complex approval route that needs to be navigated if you want to use Prince’s music in a film or TV project was highlighted earlier this year when The Duffer Brothers wanted to incorporate two songs from the Purple Rain album in the finale of Stranger Things (permission was granted in the end), but in this case, Beckman claims that he fell at the final hurdle.
“I think Prince sold the rights to Primary Wave [Primary Wave actually acquired a stake in the Prince estate in 2021, more than five years after Prince’s death], and the Primary Wave guys were like, ‘Oh yeah, we’d be happy to go ahead and give you guys the rights to this Prince song.’ But in that instance, it’s my understanding that the deal was such that the estate now needs to approve what Primary Wave does with it.”
“Literally we were ready to go, and this lawyer that manages the estate was like, ‘Prince would never want his song associated with Donald Trump.’ And we’re like, ‘But 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.’ And that guy blocked it. It’s so ridiculous.”
Variety says that representatives of both Guns N’ Roses and the Prince estate were contacted but didn’t provide comment on Beckman’s claims.
Despite these disappointments, Melania does also have some undeniable musical wins – the use of The Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter at the start, for example. It’s worth noting that the rights to this are owned by ABKCO, so the band would have had no control over its usage, but Beckman claims that Mick Jagger “was actually involved” and “gave his blessing”.
Representatives for the Stones told Variety that they “couldn’t speak directly to Beckman’s account of the group’s approval.”
An instrumental version of Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World is also included; in this case, Beckman denies that the lyrics were removed because there could be an implication that Melania’s husband has some kind of ‘king complex’.
Beckman also claims that the Melania team spoke to “a lot of the classic rock artists that were true freedom fighters in the ‘60s,” who would have been happy to let their music be used but had permission blocked by rights holders. None of these artists are named.
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