James Carville Red Flags ‘Breathtaking’ $40 Million for Amazon’s Melania Trump Doc: ‘Where’s the Money Going!?’

Screenshot via Politicon

Democratic strategist James Carville was dumbfounded to learn Amazon MGM’s upcoming Melania Trump documentary already cost $40 million, suggesting “somebody should look into this.”

The recently-announced documentary will see a theatrical release as well as a streaming debut through Amazon’s Prime video service. The announcement came on the heels of a number of tech leaders embracing President-elect Donald Trump, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in December. Amazon also donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

Carville suggested this week on his Politicon podcast that something doesn’t smell right about the Melania Trump documentary because no documentary should come with a price tag that high. Carville was recently the subject of his own documentary, Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid. The $40 million Amazon is paying is for licensing rights, which would be part of the film’s budget, but not directly tied to its production cost.

Carville said:

This is something I’m going to claim some expertise in, the subject of documentaries because I’ve been the subject of two and I’ve been the subject of a recent one… You can produce a world class documentary for $2 million. I know it. You couldn’t spend $40 million on a documentary if you tried 10 times harder to do it, so where’s the money going? Well, we know where the money is going.

The strategist suggested the deal is just a way for Bezos to get closer to Trump, calling $40 million “chump change” for the billionaire.

Carville said the story would be perfect for The Washington Post, which Bezos owns, but editorial page editor David Shipley is “sitting in a corner under his desk being slapped around by Bezos.”

“It’s breathtaking,” Carville said.

“What’s happening right in front of your fucking eyes right there. They’re paying her $40 million and, I don’t know, somebody better look into this,” he added. “They could make a documentary on the history of the universe and not spend $40 million. Every time you think it’s bad, it gets worse.”

The Melania Trump documentary is being directed by Brett Ratner, who has not made a film since 2014’s Hercules. During the #MeToo movement in 2017, the director was accused by a number of women of sexual misconduct. Warner Bros. did not renew a deal with Ratner’s RatPac Entertainment in 2018, and a 2021 feature on the duo Milli Vanilli was dropped by Millenium Media following backlash.

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