Several crew members who worked on the first lady’s Amazon MGM documentary don’t want their names associated with it.
Rolling Stone reports that two-thirds of Melania’s New York crew requested that their names not be added to the film’s credits. Another source who said they wished they’d had the foresight to remove their name from the film said, “I’m much more alarmed now.”
Another told the publication they’re hoping the film—which required “really long hours,” in a “highly disorganized” and “very” chaotic environment—“flops.”
“Unfortunately, if it does flop, I would really feel great about it,” the crew member said.
Another added, “I feel a little bit uncomfortable with the propaganda element of this.”
Working on the film “wasn’t easy money,” explained yet another source, as “people were worked really hard” on the production. And the person most commonly cited for causing those hard conditions is director Brett Ratner.
One Melania crew member told Rolling Stone that Ratner was “slimy.” Melania Trump, while “boring,” they said, was “totally nice.”
Melania is the Rush Hour director’s first film following the sexual assault allegations that saw him ousted from Hollywood. He has denied any wrongdoing.
But his partnership with Trump has already paid off, as the president reportedly had a direct hand in getting his MAGA-friendly buddy, Skydance Paramount CEO David Ellison, to greenlight Ratner’s previously sequel Rush Hour 4 in November.
“Brett Ratner was the worst part of working on this project,” another crew member said. While others were put off by Ratner’s reported lack of cleanliness (he left a constant trail of “discarded orange peels and gum wrappers” everywhere he went, according to the crew), others said the director was less than charming.
The Daily Beast has reached out Ratner’s company for comment.
The report includes an anecdote about Ratner eating “in the grubbiest way possible” while crew members were not allowed a meal break. One said Ratner was “either being a d---” or had “no awareness whatsoever.” Another said he dropped his chewed gum into a cup of coffee on her cart and “didn’t acknowledge my existence.”
As for the final product that the crew hopes will “flop,” viewers shouldn’t expect to learn anything new about the first lady. Said one crew member, “Some people never let their guard down.”
Melania is set to have a splashy premiere at Trump’s remade Kennedy Center this Thursday, Jan. 29, before playing in theaters starting Friday, Jan. 30.
