BE BEST ACTRESS

Colbert’s ‘Melania’ Fires Back at Documentary Critics

Lauren Benanti returned as the fake first lady, to defend her multimillion-dollar documentary.

Stephen Colbert’s Melania Trump doppelgänger returned to The Late Show to promote the first lady’s vanity documentary and attack its many critics.

Comedian Laura Benanti reprised her role as the president’s wife, appearing on Wednesday night’s episode to defend Amazon MGM’s Melania. The $75 million documentary opened worldwide last Friday, but has been panned by critics and seen its claims of box office success questioned.

Colbert turned to fake Melania to get all the answers, telling the faux first lady, “I know you had a big release last weekend that everyone is talking about.”

“Oh no, Stephen, no! I’m not here to talk about the Epstein files,” Benanti replied.

Colbert asked the comedian what, exactly, Melania is about. “Oh, it’s about $28 million in my pocket,” she replied, referring to reports that the first lady will earn at least that amount from her film. When pressed on the genre of the multimillion-dollar project, Benanti responded, “Just like me, it’s a very creepy mystery. I play ‘Melania,’ the third wife of an aging billionaire. And I am moving into a spooky old mansion called the White House, where I definitely live and sleep with my husband. Wink!”

PRICEY FLOP

Stephen Colbert Roasts Melania Trump’s Box-Office ‘Bomb’

Meera Navlakha

Amazon paid an unlikely $40 million for the rights to the movie in a deal reportedly struck by Jeff Bezos himself on a trip to Mar-a-Lago shortly after Trump’s 2024 election victory. Amazon said it would be spending another $35 million promoting it—a huge sum for a documentary.

The film, which follows Mrs Trump in the weeks before her husband’s second inauguration last January, opened last Friday in 2,000 theaters across the U.S. and internationally. In its first weekend in U.S. theaters, the film made $7 million in ticket sales, making it the largest opening for a documentary of its kind in a decade.

“According to Amazon, ticket sales have been good here in the U.S.,” Colbert said, acknowledging its success. “But I understand it hasn’t done well overseas and was even pulled entirely out of South Africa.”

SUSPICIOUS

Kimmel Fuels Theory That ‘Melania’ Box Office Was ‘Rigged'

Michael Boyle

“They should not have done that,” Benanti responded, feigning outrage. “The only person that should have pulled out in South Africa is Elon Musk’s dad.”

Finally, to prove her critics wrong, Melania 2.0 showed The Late Show audience that she has already won “the world’s most prestigious award” for her doc. Managing to combine the first lady’s “Be Best” campaign against cyberbullying and the fact that President Donald Trump was given a bizarre peace prize by FIFA, Benanti revealed her prize: “The FIFA Oscar for ‘Be Best’ actress.”

Obsessed with pop culture and entertainment? Follow us on Substack and YouTube for even more coverage.

Meera NavlakhaEntertainment Reporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.