Even before Jonny Greenwood, Guns N’ Roses decided that their music could not be heard in the documentary about Melania Trump.
Mark Beckman, the producer of the documentary “Melania” about President’s wife Melania Trump, has announced that other prominent musicians and estates have refused permission to use their music for the film’s soundtrack.
A few days ago the news went around the world that Radiohead guitarist and composer Jonny Greenwood, together with “One Battle After Another” director Paul Thomas Anderson, had decided not to allow the music used in “Melania” due to licensing problems. Specifically, it was a piece from the score for “The Silken Thread” (Phantom Thread).
Guns N’ Roses couldn’t come to an agreement at first
Beckman now explained that they had already been rejected by Guns N’ Roses beforehand. The band had made it clear that they would not grant any license for any of their songs. However, the musicians did not agree on this, as the producer revealed.
Beckman: “One of the guys – I don’t want to name a name, it wouldn’t be fair – said, ‘You did it. Let’s go.’ And the other guy basically said, ‘That just doesn’t work.’ So Guns N’ Roses was definitely a disappointment for us because we all have a lot of respect for Guns N’ Roses.”
Beckman didn’t want to point out which song wasn’t featured in the documentary, only that it was a “beautiful song” from her catalog.
The estate of Prince and Grace Jones also turned down “Melania”.
In addition to the hard rock veterans, there were other cancellations. Accordingly, Grace Jones and Prince’s estate also insisted that none of their pieces should be associated with the “Melania” documentary. Despite these rejections, Beckman insisted that “Melania” was essentially “not a political film” and expressed disappointment that political considerations had made artistic collaboration impossible for some musicians.
“It’s disappointing when people put politics so much in the foreground,” the producer said. “We made it clear: ‘It’s not a Donald Trump movie!’ He does appear in the film from time to time, but really it’s all about Melania.”
“Melania” opened in US cinemas on January 30th and was acquired by Amazon MGM Studios for a record $40 million. The film follows Melania Trump during the 20 days before her husband’s second inauguration on January 20, 2025. The focus is on her preparations for returning to the White House, diplomatic meetings and her decision on which dress she would like to wear for the presidential inauguration.
Editorial recommendations
So far, “Melania” is considered a commercial failure. In its first few weeks, it grossed only about $16.5 million worldwide – far less than production and advertising costs. The rating on the film website Rotten Tomatoes caused a stirwhich initially received an extremely lousy 5 percent in the critics’ rating (now it’s at least 11 percent). In contrast, there was well over 90 percent approval from viewers. Apparently the assessment here also became a political issue.
